Special Representative for Afghanistan Nigel Casey, right, shakes hands with Taliban representative Amir Khan Muttaqi, center, before a meeting in Oslo, Norway, on Monday.
Stian Lysberg Solum / AP
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Stian Lysberg Solum / AP
Special Representative for Afghanistan Nigel Casey, right, shakes hands with Taliban representative Amir Khan Muttaqi, center, before a meeting in Oslo, Norway, on Monday.
Stian Lysberg Solum / AP
OSLO, Norway – The Taliban and Western diplomats have begun their first formal talks in Europe since they took control of Afghanistan in August.
The caucuses took place at a hotel in the snow-capped mountains above the Norwegian capital. The Taliban representatives will no doubt insist on their demand that the nearly $10 billion frozen by the United States and other Western countries be released as Afghanistan faces a precarious humanitarian situation.
“We are asking them to release Afghan assets and not punish ordinary Afghans for political discourse,” said Taliban delegate Shafiullah Azam. “Because of hunger, because of the deadly winter, I think it’s time for the international community to support the Afghans and not punish them for their political disputes.”
Delegate from Afghan civil society Heda Khamoush holds up photos of two women who have disappeared before a meeting in Oslo, Norway, on Monday.
Stian Lysberg Solum / AP
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Stian Lysberg Solum / AP
Delegate from Afghan civil society Heda Khamoush holds up photos of two women who have disappeared before a meeting in Oslo, Norway, on Monday.
Stian Lysberg Solum / AP
Before the talks, Western diplomats met with Afghan women’s rights activists and human rights defenders to listen to civil society in Afghanistan and the Afghan community in Afghanistan about their needs. their needs and assessment of the current situation. The meeting was attended by representatives of the EU, US, UK, France, Italy and host Norway.
The three-day talks opened on Sunday with face-to-face meetings between the Taliban and civil society representatives.
A joint statement posted overnight by Zabihullah Mujahid, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information of Afghanistan, after the talks wrote that “the meeting participants realized that common understanding and cooperation was the only solution. for all Afghanistan’s problems” and stressed that “all Afghans need to work together for better political, economic and security outcomes in the country.”
The United Nations has managed to provide some liquidity and allow the Taliban government to pay for imports, including electricity. But the United Nations has warned that up to 1 million Afghan children are at risk of starvation and the majority of the country’s 38 million are living below the poverty line.
Faced with demands for funding from the Taliban, Western powers are likely to put the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan high on their agenda, with the West frequently demanding the government The Taliban share power with Afghanistan’s ethnic and religious groups.
Since taking power in mid-August, the Taliban have imposed widespread restrictions, many of which are aimed at women. Women were banned from doing many jobs outside of health and education, their access to education was limited after sixth grade, and they were ordered to wear headscarves. However, the Taliban have stopped imposing the burqa, which was mandatory when they previously ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s.
The Taliban increasingly target groups that defend Afghanistan’s power, as well as journalists, arresting and sometimes beating television crews that cover the protests.
A US delegation, led by Special Representative for Afghanistan Tom West, plans to discuss “forming a representative political system; responding to pressing economic and humanitarian crises ; security and counterterrorism concerns; and human rights, especially education for girls and women,” according to a statement from the US State Department.
Scandinavia, home of the Nobel Peace Prize, is no stranger to diplomacy. It has participated in peace efforts in several countries, including Mozambique, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Colombia, Philippines, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Syria, Myanmar, Somalia, Sri Lanka and South Sudan.
