PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said “several European countries are working on opening up a joint diplomatic mission in Afghanistan that would enable their ambassadors to return to the country.”

Western countries have been grappling with how to engage with the Taliban after they took over Afghanistan in a lightning advance in August as U.S.-led forces were completing their pullout.

The United States and other Western countries shut their embassies and withdrew their diplomats as the Taliban seized Kabul, following which the militants declared an interim government whose top members are under U.S. and U.N. sanctions.

Macron told reporters in Doha before heading to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia “we are thinking of an organisation between several European countries, a common location for several Europeans, which would allow our ambassadors to be present.”

The United States, European countries and others are reluctant to formally recognize the Pashtun-dominated Taliban, accusing them of backtracking on pledges of political and ethnic inclusivity and to uphold the rights of women and minorities.