The Taliban's prime minister called Wednesday on Muslim nations to be the first to officially recognize the government that seized power in Afghanistan last August, AFP reported.

No country has yet recognized the Taliban government, with nations watching to see how the hardline Islamists—notorious for human rights abuses during their first stint in power between 1996 and 2001—will rule this time around.

"I call on Muslim countries to take the lead and recognize us officially. Then I hope we will be able to develop quickly," Mohammad Hassan Akhund told a conference in Kabul to address the country's massive economic crisis.

"We do not want anyone's help. We don't want it for the officials," Akhund said, referring to diplomatic recognition.

"We want it for our public," he said, adding that the Taliban had fulfilled all necessary conditions by restoring peace and security.

Aid-dependent Afghanistan is in the grip of a humanitarian disaster, worsened by the Taliban takeover in August—when Western countries froze international aid and access to assets held abroad.

Jobs have dried up, and many government workers have not been paid for months in a country that was almost entirely dependent on foreign aid under the previous US-backed government.