Norway’s foreign minister Anniken Huitfeldt announced the ministry “invited three people from the civil service in Kabul to participate in this year’s Oslo Forum,” adding “they are not from the political leadership of the Taliban.”
At the forum, which is ongoing now, these representatives are meeting “Afghan civil society and representatives from other countries to talk about the major challenges in Afghanistan,” Huitfeldt said.
Islamic Emirate foreign ministry spokesman Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takal confirmed that a delegation of the Islamic Emirate is participating in the meeting.
According to Takal, Abdul Qahar Balkhi from the Foreign Ministry, Shamsuddin Mansour from the Interior Ministry, and Rohullah Omar from the Defense Ministry participated in the meeting.
The meeting is due to be held for three days.
“The Norway meeting is organized by NGOs which have the experience of negotiations with the groups—that have a background of violence—and for that, they receive money from their government. Those who traveled from Kabul lack the authority for negotiation,” said Torek Farhadi, political analyst.
The Norwegian Refugee Council meanwhile said that the meeting is a huge opportunity to discuss the challenges of Afghanistan.
“We understand that there will be representatives of many countries at the conference and it is a huge opportunity to discuss the challenges of Afghanistan, including the humanitarian situation. The drivers of humanitarian crisis we are facing here including the dire economic situation can only be solved through dialogue. We hope the dialogue will continue including with the return of diplomats to Kabul, Afghanistan,” said Neil Turner, Country Director for Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, some Afghan women’s rights activists said such meetings will not help the situation of women in Afghanistan.
“This meeting may take one week or three days, such meetings cannot change the condition of Afghanistan, only negotiations happen there,” said Suraya Paikan, a women’s rights activist.
“Organizing such meetings have not had and will not have a benefit for the people of Afghanistan, particularly for the women in Afghanistan who are deprived of all types of rights,” said Laila Bssim, a women’s rights activist.
