(Bloomberg) — Norway has invited representatives from the Taliban to Oslo from Jan. 23 to 25 for meetings, the Norwegian foreign ministry said on Friday.
The Taliban will meet with representatives of the Norwegian authorities and several allied countries, the ministry said in a statement. Meetings will also take place between the Taliban delegation and other Afghans, including female leaders and journalists.
“This is not a legitimation or recognition of the Taliban,” Foreign Affairs Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said in the statement. “But we must talk to those who in practice govern the country today.”
Afghanistan’s acting Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs Abdul Kabir on Tuesday had asked Norway to increase its humanitarian aid to the country and to recognize its government that was announced in early September.
The Taliban administration is yet to be formally recognized by any country due to concerns over its links with terrorism and human rights abuses. Some members of the militant group’s governing cabinet are on U.S. and United Nations sanctions lists.
International recognition is a crucial step that could help Afghanistan access more than $9 billion in frozen reserves held overseas.
The meeting in Oslo will take place as the impoverished nation faces a looming humanitarian crisis. The U.N. estimates more than half of the country’s nearly 40 million people face acute hunger, with a million children at risk of dying as a harsh winter sets in. As much as 97% of the population could be living in poverty by mid-2022, up from about 72% in 2020.
Taliban officials were not immediately available for comment Friday, the weekly holiday in Afghanistan.
(Updates with background)
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