NEW YORK, 17 September 2021, (TON): A UN envoy has met Afghanistan's new interior minister who was for years was one of the world's most wanted militants and is now part of a government trying to head off a humanitarian crisis.

Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman, said in a statement on Twitter “the meeting between Deborah Lyons, head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, and Sirajuddin Haqqani focused on humanitarian assistance.

He said "Haqqani stressed that UN personnel can conduct their work without any hurdle and deliver vital aid to the Afghan people.”

Afghanistan was already facing chronic poverty and drought but the situation has deteriorated since the Taliban took over last month with the disruption of aid, the departure of tens of thousands of people including government and aid workers and the collapse of much economic activity.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an international aid conference this week that Afghans were facing "perhaps their most perilous hour".

The UN mission in Afghanistan said that in the Wednesday meeting Lyons had stressed the "absolute necessity for all UN and humanitarian personnel in Afghanistan to be able to work without intimidation or obstruction to deliver vital aid and conduct work for Afghan people".