EU Mulls How to Deal with Taliban

The European Union will focus on humanitarian aid as it figures out how to deal with the Taliban, aiming on an informal arrangement with Afghanistan's new rulers to ensure safe aid corridors, four diplomats and two officials said.

More than a month after the Islamist militants took control following a chaotic Western withdrawal from Kabul, EU governments are also limiting their presence to the Qatari capital, Doha, where the Taliban have a representation.

The reduced ambitions reflect security concerns and confusion about who to deal with in the Taliban after their leaders announced a provisional government without women that ran counter to appeals from world powers for an inclusive team.

The formation of a government of Taliban veterans and hardliners as well as widespread reports of human rights abuses have dented optimism they had changed since running the country between 1996 and 2001, diplomats said.

"The Taliban will have to make a choice between money or isolation, but we have very little expectations of them," an EU diplomat said. "Today there are no signals."

Limited aid convoys are reaching Afghanistan, where poverty and hunger have spiraled since the Taliban took power on Aug. 15, via the United Nations refugee agency. UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi also met with the Taliban in Kabul last week.

But as the EU, the world's largest donor, prepares an aid package for Afghanistan of some 300 million euros ($351 million) it wants to use its aid as leverage to push the Taliban to uphold human rights.

It also needs names and telephone numbers of Taliban officials who can be trusted once planes arrive from Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.

"We are seeking guarantees for humanitarian aid corridors...