Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the international community has been struggling with the dilemma of how to support the Afghan people without legitimising the unelected regime. Based primarily on the views of local leaders and experts, this IFIT working paper draws on lessons learnt from other contexts and proposes tailored ideas for an alternative aid delivery framework for Afghanistan. It suggests that the shifting boundaries between humanitarian aid, ‘humanitarian plus’ aid, early recovery assistance and development aid may need to be revisited, so that donors can find a way to support local populations without rewarding illegitimate regimes.