The Chief of Foreign Policy of the European Union said that Afghanistan is facing an economic and social breakdown that could harm its population and damage regional security.
"Afghanistan is experiencing a serious humanitarian crisis and a socioeconomic collapse is looming, which would be dangerous for Afghans, the region, and international security," Josep Borrell wrote on his blog.
The Taliban has a representative office in Doha; Borrell met Qatari officers last week. He said he talked about evaluating the actions of the militant group since they regained control in August and how to prevent the collapse of the country.
He said the Taliban would have to fulfil conditions that would allow more international aid in order to avoid the worst-case scenario.
"At the moment, the 'asks' on the Taliban side seem to revolve around recognition, the release of frozen assets, and lifting of the UN sanctions," Borrell wrote.
"To influence the new leaders, we need some form of road map, setting out our clear benchmarks and expectations and steps to take."
The EU foreign-policy chief also said that it was clear that "we need to have people on the ground in Afghanistan," raising the question of "when and how."
After the withdrawal of US forces after 20 years of war and loss of foreign income has boosted inflation and paralysed Afghan banking system, food prices have jumped sharply since the Taliban took control.
Borrell said that the health system in Afghanistan is near collapse and warned that if the situation continued into winter it "risks turning into a humanitarian catastrophe" that could trigger mass out-migration to neighboring states.
Since the Taliban came to power, the 27-country bloc has stopped its assistance to development like many other countries and the World Bank, but the European Union has increased its humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
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