Taliban delegation begins talks in Oslo | Taliban News

The Taliban delegation led by acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has begun three-day talks in Oslo With Western government officials and representatives of Afghan civil society.

From Sunday, closed-door meetings in the Norwegian capital will bring together Taliban representatives with Afghan women’s and human rights activists and human rights defenders in the Afghan diaspora.

Delegation will be encouraged he promises to defend human rights In exchange for billions of dollars in frozen humanitarian aid, Al Jazeera has learned.

“The West’s leverage on the Taliban is almost $ 10 billion in Afghanistan money, mostly stored in the United States,” said Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, Doha reported.

“Amir Khan Muttaqi will try to return some of this money to pay the salaries of the officials and to ensure that there is enough food in the country, the humanitarian situation is quite depressing, “he said.

“The other aspect of this, of course, is the promises made by the Taliban when it came to power about women’s rights, girls’ education, civil liberties, and that is something the Taliban still has to fulfill,” she added.

Obaidullah Baheer, a professor at the American University of Afghanistan, told Al Jazeera in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, that sitting and talking is just progress.

“The reality is that the Taliban are new to governance and there is a chance that they can adapt to something better,” he said.

“I know they have been rigid in some respects, but with proper international pressure and activism in Afghanistan, the Taliban can be pushed to specific actions.”

On their first visit to Europe since returning to power in August, the Taliban will meet with Norwegian officials and representatives from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and the European Union.

“We are holding a meeting in Norway with the United States and the European Union on issues of mutual interest. And part of our meeting would be with the Afghan diaspora outside the country, especially in Europe, ”said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

“Their ideas, inquiries and plans will be heard. That means there will be more understanding between Afghans. “

Taliban representatives pose for photos before heading to Oslo [Taliban handout via AFP]

Speaking to Al Jazeera in Istanbul, Turkey, Afghan journalist Mariam Atahi and a women’s rights activist called on the Taliban to release three women, saying the group had kidnapped them while protesting for the right to education.

“If they want to have recognition, if they want to govern in Afghanistan, they have to recognize human rights, education rights, rights to political participation,” he said.

Taliban officials, however, have denied that women rights activists have been beaten and arrested.

The Afghan group was ousted in a US-led invasion in 2001, but returned to power in August when international troops finally withdrew.

One country has not yet recognized the Taliban government, and Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt has stressed that the talks “will not imply legitimacy or recognition of the Taliban.”

“But we need to talk to the de facto authorities in the country. We cannot allow the political situation to lead to an even worse humanitarian catastrophe, ”Huitfeldt said.

Muttaqi, left, Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi, downtown, and representatives on a plane [Afghan Taliban handout via AFP]

The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated dramatically since August.

International aid, which funded about 80 percent of Afghanistan’s budget, came to a sudden halt and the U.S. froze $ 9.5 billion in assets attached to the Afghan central bank.

Unemployment has risen and the salaries of civil servants have been rising for months in a country that has already been hit by several severe droughts.

Hunger now threatens 23 million Afghans, or 55 percent of the population, according to the United Nations, and this year says it needs $ 4.4 billion from donor countries to tackle the humanitarian crisis.

“It would be a mistake to subject the people of Afghanistan to collective punishment because the de facto authorities are not acting properly,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated on Friday.