Afghanistan’s new rulers told The Associated Press that they aim to have schools open for girls and women in late March, after the Afghan new year.

They repeated that promise in Oslo, according to Mr Jan Egeland; secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the humanitarian organisations taking part in the talks.

Their visit — the first to Europe since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August — opened on Sunday with talks between the Taliban and members of Afghan civil society.

The following day, they held multilateral talks involving Western diplomats from the EU, the US, Britain, France, Italy and host Norway.

Tuesday’s talks were bilateral, involving all parties, including independent humanitarian organisations.

Western diplomats have linked humanitarian aid for Afghanistan to an improvement in human rights after meeting a Taliban delegation on a landmark visit to Europe.

The closed-door meetings in the snow-capped mountains above the Norwegian capital of Oslo came at a crucial time for Afghanistan, as freezing temperatures are compounding the misery from the country’s downward economic spiral after the fall of the US-backed government and the Taliban’s takeover last summer.

“It was a very good trip. Such trips will bring us closer to the world,” Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, told The Associated Press.

Aid groups and international agencies estimate that about 23 million people, more than half the country, is facing severe hunger and nearly nine million Afghans are on the brink of starvation.

Mr Muttaqi said the Taliban government would do “its best to protect Afghanistan form any sorts of problems, attract more assistance, seeking solutions for the economic problems”.

The Taliban are demanding that $US10 billion ($14 billion) frozen by the United States and other Western countries be released, but there is no agreement on that so far.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has managed to provide some liquidity and allowed the Taliban administration to pay for imports, including electricity.

“The number one problem now is that Western sanctions are creating a liquidity crisis, which means we cannot get aid funding into the country,” said Egeland, who met with the Taliban delegation led by Mr Muttaqi.

“We cannot save lives as we should. So the West and the Taliban need to talk. And we need to have an end to sanctions hurting civilians,” he said.

But before they will agree to relax sanctions, Western powers are demanding increased rights for Afghan women and girls, along with the West’s recurring demand for the Taliban administration to share power with Afghanistan’s minority ethnic and religious groups.