United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres on Wednesday said any suggestion the world body can solve Afghanistan's problems is "a fantasy" and that its capacity to mediate for a more inclusive Taliban government is limited.

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 UN influence as the main international organisation still on the ground there.

The world has watched...