The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday he had met with the Taliban's health minister for talks on the "dire" health and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed that he met Qalander Ebad for talks on Tuesday. Ebad is part of a Taliban delegation visiting Geneva for a week of talks with institutions and non-governmental agencies on humanitarian access and human rights, as Afghanistan's new rulers expand their international engagement.

(Cover: An Afghan doctor treats a patient infected with COVID-19 at the intensive care unit of the Afghan Japan Communicable Disease Hospital, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 7, 2022. /CFP)