NRF Top Leaders Traveling to Moscow

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8am: Sources in the National Resistance Front (NRF) confirm that Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the front, and Salahuddin Rabbani, the leader of Jamiat-e Islami of Afghanistan, are traveling to Moscow. The purpose of the visit of the top leaders of the (NRF) to Moscow is to meet with senior Taliban officials, according to sources. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Delegation Begins Talks In Norway To Request Access To Assets

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
January 24, 2022

A Taliban delegation and Western diplomats have opened talks in Norway to discuss Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis and human rights as the situation in the war-torn country worsens with millions on the brink of famine.

Closed-door discussions in Oslo are being held between the 15-member delegation and representatives of the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, the European Union, and Norway focusing on Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation, which has deteriorated drastically since the Taliban took over the government in mid-August 2021.

The Taliban delegation is expected to request access to billions of dollars in assets that were frozen after the group seized power in the midst of the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces after being there for two decades.

Afghanistan faces a worsening humanitarian crisis, with 22.8 million people suffering from acute food shortages and 8.7 million near starvation, according to the UN.

Since August, international aid, which financed around 80 percent of the Afghan budget, has been suspended and the United States has frozen $9.5 billion in Afghan Central Bank assets. Unemployment has skyrocketed and civil servants’ salaries have not been paid for months.

“We are requesting them to unfreeze Afghan assets and not punish ordinary Afghans because of the political discourse,” said Taliban delegate Shafiullah Azam ahead of the talks. “Because of the starvation, because of the deadly winter, I think it’s time for the international community to support Afghans, not punish them because of their political disputes.”

On January 23, during the first day of the all-male delegation’s three-day visit to Oslo, its members met with Afghan civil society representatives for talks on human rights.

Azam told the AP news agency that the January 23 meetings with Western officials were a step to legitimize the Afghan government, adding that “this type of invitation and communication will help [the] European community, [the] U.S. or many other countries to erase the wrong picture of the Afghan government.”

Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt had earlier stressed that the talks were “not a legitimization or recognition of the Taliban.”

Feminist activist Jamila Afghani told AFP that the January 23 meeting was positive. The negotiators “displayed goodwill…Let’s see what their actions will be, based on their words,” she added.

While the Islamists claim to have modernized, women are still largely excluded from public-sector employment, and most secondary schools for girls remain closed. Two women activists disappeared this week in Kabul.

About 200 protesters gathered in front of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry on January 23 to condemn the meetings.

Among the members of the delegation is Anas Haqqani, a leader of the Haqqani network, which is responsible for some of the most devastating attacks in Afghanistan. The network has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States.

With reporting by AP and AFP

Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

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Change to aid rules needed to prevent famine in Afghanistan, say UK experts

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The Guardian (UK): Afghanistan can only be saved from state collapse and widespread starvation if the definition of legitimate humanitarian aid to the country is broadened, some of Britain’s most senior former security and diplomatic chiefs have said. Click here to read more (external link).

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Taliban: ‘We Have the Right to Detain the Regime’s Opponents’

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Zabihullah Mujahid

8am: The Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that they had the right to detain and imprison opponents or those who violate the law. Mujahid made the remarks after a bunch of women protesters have claimed that two of their active members have been detained by the Taliban and are in an unknown situation. Click here to read more (external link).

Talks Between Taliban, Afghan Civil Society Begin In Norway

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
January 23, 2022

The first Taliban delegation to visit Europe since returning to power in Afghanistan has begun talks with Afghan civil society members focused on human rights, Norway’s Foreign Ministry says.

Headed by acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, the delegation was to dedicate the first day of their three-day visit to talks with women activists and journalists, among others, before meeting Western diplomats on January 24 and 25.

The Norwegian Foreign Ministry said on January 23 the Taliban delegation would also meet with 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 U.S. 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 released by the U.S. State Department.

On January 21, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt stressed that the visit was “not a legitimation or recognition of the Taliban. But we must talk to those who in practice govern the country today.”

“We are extremely concerned about the serious situation in Afghanistan,” Huitfeldt said, noting that economic and political conditions had created “a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe for millions of people” facing starvation in the country.

According to information from the broadcaster NRK, whether or not the Taliban delegation will also talk to Huitfeldt during their visit should depend on how the first meetings go.

A former Afghan minister for mines and fuel who now lives in Norway, Nargis Nehan, told AFP she had declined an invitation to take part.

She said she feared the talks would “normalize the Taliban and…strengthen them, while there is no way that they’ll change.”

“If we look at what happened in the talks of the past three years, the Taliban keep getting what they demand from the international community and the Afghan people, but there is not one single thing that they have delivered from their side,” she said.

The Scandinavian country, home to the Nobel Peace Prize, has in the past been involved in peace efforts in a number of countries, including Mozambique, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Colombia, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and Syria.

With reporting by AFP and AP

Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

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