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Taliban delegation led by foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has begun three days of negotiations in Oslo with Western government officials and representatives of Afghan organizations.
As of Sunday, open-air meetings in the Norwegian capital will see Taliban representatives meet with women’s rights activists and Afghan and pro-Afghan human rights activists.
Delegates will be pushed promises to uphold human rights in return for the opportunity to raise billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance, Al Jazeera has learned.
“What the West has in the Taliban is about $ 10bn of Afghanistan money that is mainly spent in the United States,” said Osama Bin Javaid of Al Jazeera, Doha.
“Amir Khan Muttaqi has tried to repay the money to pay public servants and ensure that there is enough food in the country because human society has reached a critical juncture, ”He said.
“Part of this is obviously the promises that the Taliban made when they came to power over women’s rights, girls’ education, human rights, and that is something the Taliban did not do,” she said.
Obaidullah Baheer, a lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan, told Al Jazeera from the Afghan capital in Kabul that it would just make the Taliban sit down and talk and move forward.
“The reality is that the Taliban are new to leadership and there is an opportunity to shape them into a positive force,” he said.
“I know they have been tough in some areas, but with the right amount of international support and the right support for Afghanistan, the Taliban could be pushed to action.”
On his first trip to Europe since his return to power in August, the Taliban will meet with Norwegian officials as well as representatives of the US, France, UK, Germany, Italy and the European Union.
“In Norway, we have a meeting with the US and the European Union on mutual love. And one of our meetings will be with our Afghan diaspora who are abroad, especially in Europe,” said Tabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman.
“Their ideas, discussions and plans will be heard. This means that mutual understanding will continue among the people of Afghanistan.”
Taliban envoys taking pictures before leaving for Oslo [Taliban handout via AFP]Speaking to Al Jazeera from Istanbul in Turkey, Mariam Atahi, an Afghan journalist and women’s rights activist, urged the Taliban to release three women who had been allegedly abducted by protesters during a protest rally.
“If they want to be recognized, if they want to rule Afghanistan, they have to recognize human rights, the right to education, the right to political participation,” he said.
Taliban officials have refused to beat and arrest women activists.
The Afghan army was defeated in a US-led war in 2001 but returned in August when international troops began their final exit.
No country has yet recognized the Taliban government, and the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Anniken Huitfeldt, has confirmed that the talks “will not represent the recognition or recognition of the Taliban”.
“But we need to talk to the authorities in this country. We will not allow politics to lead to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis,” Huitfeldt said.
Muttaqi, left, Taliban spokesman Foreign Minister Abdul Qahar Balkhi, center, and a delegate on the plane. [Afghan Taliban handout via AFP]Humanitarian aid to Afghanistan has worsened since August.
International aid, which provides about 80 percent of Afghanistan’s budget, came to a standstill and the US suspended $ 9.5bn from Afghanistan’s central bank.
Unemployment has skyrocketed, and workers’ wages have not been paid for months in a country that has already been devastated by a severe drought.
Hunger now threatens 23 million Afghans, or 55 percent of the population, according to the United Nations, which says it needs $ 4.4bn from aid agencies this year to address the humanitarian crisis.
“It would be a mistake to impose sanctions on the Afghan people because the authorities are not doing well,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres repeated Friday.
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