Talks with Taliban delegation begin in Norway

Oslo, January 23

A Taliban delegation led by acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Sunday started three days of talks with Western government officials and Afghan civil society representatives in Oslo amid a deteriorating humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.

The closed-door meetings are taking place at a hotel in the snow-capped mountains above the Norwegian capital, Oslo, and the first day will see Taliban representatives meeting women’s rights activists and human rights defenders from Afghanistan and from the Afghan diaspora.

Before the talks, the Taliban’s Deputy Minister of Culture and Information tweeted a voice message he said was from Muttaqi, expressing hope for “a good trip full of achievements” and thanking Norway, a country he said he hopes will become “a gateway for a positive relationship with Europe”.

The trip is the first time since the Taliban took over the country in August that their representatives have held official meetings in Europe. Earlier, they travelled to Russia, Iran, Qatar, Pakistan, China and Turkmenistan.

During the talks, Muttaqi is certain to press the Taliban’s demand that nearly $10 billion frozen by the United States and other Western countries be released as Afghanistan faces a precarious humanitarian situation.

A US delegation, led by Special Representative for Afghanistan Tom West, plans to discuss “the formation of a representative political system. — AP