Senior British intelligence officials held secret talks with the Taliban in Kabul to seek assurances that Afghanistan will not be used to launch terror attacks on the West, The Telegraph can reveal.

       The discussions are understood to have taken place in the past fortnight in the wake of the Taliban's seizure of power.

       Amid growing concern over the threat posed to UK security by the militant regime, Richard Moore, the chief of MI6, also flew to the region at the end of last week for separate, urgent talks with the head of the army in Pakistan.

       In an unprecedented move, details of a trip by the head of a British spy agency were made public by authorities in Islamabad.

       Sources told The Telegraph that officers with MI6 had met the Taliban both in Kabul and Doha, in Qatar, where its leadership had been based while in exile.

       Sir Simon Gass, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, which briefs Boris Johnson on security, arrived in Doha just days ago for ongoing talks with Taliban representatives. His arrival coincided with his appointment as the Prime Minister's special representative for Afghan transition, announced at the weekend.

       The intelligence agencies fear the Taliban will allow Afghanistan to be used once again as a base for harbouring jihadi terrorists plotting attacks against the West. A source said: "It's what we've always been most worried about. That's a red line for dealing with them – any sign of attack planning."

       It is understood that the UK has tried to impress upon the Taliban leadership during the talks that any future foreign aid would be dependent on the regime cutting ties with terrorist organisations, having allowed Osama bin Laden to plot 9/11 from inside Afghanistan.

       Three quarters of the former government's budget was met by foreign aid and the Taliban are believed to be keen to keep money flowing after their takeover.

       According to sources, the meetings in Afghanistan were held between intelligence officers attached to the British embassy in Kabul and the Taliban prior to its evacuation. MI6 declined to comment.

       At the same time, Mr Moore, appointed MI6 chief a year ago, flew to Islamabad where he met General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Pakistan's chief of army staff.

       In an official communique, the Pakistan military said: "During the meeting, matters of mutual and professional interests, intelligence/defence collaboration between both countries and overall regional security, with special emphasis on post-US withdrawal in Afghanistan, came under discussion."

       Sources stressed that Mr Moore had not travelled to Kabul or met the Taliban, in contrast to William Burns, his CIA counterpart, who met Mullah Baradar, the Taliban leader, in the Afghan capital just over a week ago.

       Pakistan has been keen to distance itself from the Taliban and General Bajwa last week urged the Islamists rulers "to live up to the promises made to the international community… that Afghan soil will not be used against any other country".

       On Tuesday night, government insiders defended the move to engage the Taliban in talks directly, with relations between Afghanistan's new leaders and the UK entering a new phase after the last Western troops left the country at the weekend.

       "There's a strategy of 'we've got to work out how to engage with them'," a senior government source explained. "We have to judge them on their actions, not their words."

       The blame game that has played out in Whitehall over the last fortnight after the fall of Kabul is likely to intensify on Wednesday when Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, faces a grilling from MPs on the foreign affairs committee.

       On Tuesday, Mr Raab said in a broadcast interview that the military predictions about the speed of the Taliban takeover were "clearly wrong", publicly criticising the intelligence assessments provided to ministers.