A Taliban delegation led by acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Sunday started three days of talks in Oslo with western officials and Afghan civil society representatives 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. On Sunday, Taliban representatives met 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 from Muttaqi, expressing hope for “a good trip full of achievements” and thanking Norway, a country he hoped will become “a gateway for a positive relationship with Europe”.
The trip is the first time since the Taliban took over in August that their representatives have held official meetings in Europe. Earlier, they have 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 US and other western countries be released as Afghanistan faces a humanitarian situation.
The UN has managed to provide some liquidity and allowed the new administration to pay for imports, including electricity. But the UN has warned that as many as 1 million Afghan children are in danger of starving and most of the country’s 38 million people are living below the poverty line.
The Norwegian foreign ministry said the Taliban delegation would also meet Afghans in Norway, including “women leaders, journalists and people who work with, among other things, human rights and humanitarian, economic, social and political issues”.
A US delegation, led by special representative for Afghanistan Tom West, plans to discuss “the formation of a representative political system; responses to the urgent humanitarian and economic crises; security and counterterrorism concerns; and human rights, especially education for girls and women,” according to a statement.
