'A fantasy' to think U.N. can fix Afghanistan - Guterres

Asked in an interview with Reuters a month after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan from a Western-backed government whether he felt pressure to repair the country's plight, Guterres said: "I think there is an expectation that is unfounded" of U.N. influence as the main international organization still on the ground there.

The United Nations will be doing everything it can for a country that Guterres said is on "the verge of a dramatic humanitarian disaster" and has decided to engage the Taliban in order to help Afghanistan's roughly 36 million people.

Even before the Taliban's seizure of the capital Kabul, half the country's population depended on aid. That looks set to increase due to drought and shortages and the World Food Programme has warned 14 million people were on the brink of starvation.