back up and running. but we will remain hopeful that we will be able to operate it as soon as possible. the foreign secretary said britain would not formally recognise the new taliban government, but it did want what he called "direct engagement". that's already begun here in the qatari capital of doha, where the taliban have a political office, and where the british embassy to afghanistan will now be based. a senior british official, sir simon gass, has held talks with taliban officials here and will brief the foreign secretary on their outcome. 0n the next step of a tour that critics say has come far too late, mr raab will head for pakistan. his aim, he said, was to form an alliance of nations, to exert maximum moderating influence on the taliban. james landale, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake is in westminster. is there a shift at all in the way the uk government is talking about