Talks scheduled for next week in Norway between the new Taliban authorities and Western diplomats will help “change the warlike atmosphere” that has reigned in Afghanistan since the US coalition intervened 20 years ago, the spokesperson said on Saturday. word of the Islamist government.
“The Islamic Emirate (name given by the Taliban to their regime, editor’s note) has taken measures to meet the demands of the Western world and we hope to strengthen our diplomatic relations with all countries, including European countries and the West in general”, explained to theFrance Media Agency Zabihullah Mujahid.
The Taliban, in power since August after their lightning conquest of the country, want to “change the warlike atmosphere […] in a peaceful situation,” he added.
If no country has yet recognized the Taliban government, discussions should open in Oslo on Sunday between the new masters of Afghanistan and Western diplomats.
A Taliban delegation is due to meet Norwegian authorities and representatives of other allied countries, including the United States, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and the European Union.
Respect for human rights, in particular those of women, set up as a condition for a possible return of international aid which financed 80% of the Afghan budget, will be at the center of these talks, as the country is mired in a deep crisis. humanitarian.
The discussions, which are to last until Tuesday, “do not constitute a legitimization or recognition of the Taliban”, insisted Friday the head of Norwegian diplomacy, Anniken Huitfeldt.
“But we have to talk to the authorities who are de facto running the country. We cannot allow the political situation to lead to an even greater humanitarian disaster,” she stressed.
Since August, the international aid that carried Afghanistan at arm’s length suddenly stopped and the United States also froze $9.5 billion in Afghan Central Bank assets.
Unemployment has exploded and the salaries of civil servants have not been paid for months, in this country already ravaged by severe droughts. Famine now threatens 23 million Afghans, or 55% of the population, according to the UN.
In Oslo, the Taliban must also meet members of Afghan civil society, including feminist activists and journalists.
Since coming to power, women have been largely excluded from government jobs and secondary schools for girls mostly remain closed.
The 15-member all-male delegation, led by Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaqqi, left Kabul on a plane chartered by the Norwegian government on Saturday, a Taliban spokesman said on Twitter.
These talks were condemned by the National Resistance Front (FNR), an opposition group that continues to resist Islamist fundamentalists.
They risk “normalizing a terrorist group and making it the representative of Afghanistan”, said Friday on Twitter Ali Maisam Nazary, the FNR’s foreign affairs delegate.