Taliban landed at Oslo airport in private plane – VG

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According to NRK Anas Haqqani is part of the delegation. Until recently, he was blacklisted by the United States for ties to terrorist activities, and is the brother of the even more infamous Sirajuddin Haqqani.

The latter leads the powerful Haqqani network, and is also functioning Minister of the Interior of Afghanistan.

The Finnish private airline that owns the plane in the photos, Jetlife, tells VG that they do not want to comment on the matter.

On their website, they boast that the plane with 16 passenger seats has wireless internet, long range and six beds where passengers can sleep.

This needs to be discussed

VG is aware that this will be on the agenda during the three-day visit to Norway:

1. Meetings with representatives of human rights organizations, women’s advocates and representatives of the Afghan media.
2. Meetings with special representatives of Afghanistan from Norway, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, the EU and the USA.
3. Bi-lateral meetings with Norwegian diplomats, where rights and education for girls and women, and minority rights, are on the program.

The meeting for the first time The Taliban meet human rights activists and human rights activists in Afghanistan. These are flown in both from Afghanistan, but also from other countries where they live in exile.

Afghanistan expert Kristian Berg Harpviken has previously stated to NTB that he believes the group may be willing to meet certain western requirements, including the reopening of upper secondary schools for women.

Watch video from when VG was in Kabul, and about teachers and students who wanted the schools to be open to all schoolgirls.

– Legitimizes international terror

A women activist in Kabul writes in a text message to VG that she is strongly critical of the Taliban visit to Norway.

– It is to give legitimacy to international terror, she writes.

For fear of her own life, she does not want to be named.

She is part of a women’s network in Afghanistan that is strongly critical of the new rulers in the country. The women have been met with violence from the Taliban when they have protested against the new rulers.

As recently as Thursday, a group of women rights activists reported that their homes had been raided by armed Taliban fighters in Kabul, and that several had been beaten and arrested, writes The Guardian.

– The world must understand that Norway is now the first to legitimize terror by hosting this meeting, and that under a false guise of talking about the humanitarian situation, the women activist says.

State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Henrik Thune, says the meetings are thoroughly planned.

– That we invite the Taliban to Norway is not a recognition of the Taliban, but for the Norwegian authorities it is important to have a dialogue with those who in practice govern the country. We are extremely concerned about the serious situation. It is a full-scale humanitarian disaster for millions of people. We want to be clear in our expectations of the Taliban, especially when it comes to girls’ schooling and human rights such as women’s participation in society, Thune tells VG.

The Taliban took power in Afghanistan in August last year after the United States announced that it would withdraw its forces by September 11.

After fighting the Afghan government army and taking control of province after province, Taliban forces captured the capital, Kabul, on August 15.

The takeover led to panicked conditions in Kabul, with the subsequent evacuation of several thousand Western diplomats.

Many Afghans who had worked for the Western alliance were also desperately trying to get out of the country.

Many Western leaders were shocked that the Afghan army collapsed so quickly.

– Competence failed, but what first and foremost failed was motivation and loyalty, and it has to do with trust in its own leaders, who have both proved to be incompetent and thoroughly corrupt, said Kristian Berg Harpviken, researcher at Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) to VG in August.

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has created great unrest for the situation of women and human rights activists in the country. The country is also threatened by a major humanitarian catastrophe.

Afghan activists who have been helped to Norway have warned against trusting the Taliban’s promises to respect women and minorities.

Shah Gul Rezaie (41), a former parliamentarian and longtime activist for strengthening women’s rights in Afghanistan, raised this issue when she met the then Prime Minister Erna Solberg in Oslo in October last year.

– There are two things one must never forget about the Taliban. They are strongly oppressive towards women, and they are strongly oppressive towards minorities, especially Shia Muslims, says Rezaie, who himself belongs to the Shiite Muslim Hazara population.

– Now they refuse girls over the age of twelve to go to school and get an education. Female lecturers at universities are not allowed to teach. No women are represented in their government. They have already proven what they stand for, she told VG.

The Taliban also ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

Thank you Norway

The United States participates in the Norwegian Taliban meetings with its own special envoy to Afghanistan for women, girls and human rights.

A spokesman for the US State Department told NTB on Saturday that the United States was grateful that the Norwegian government was taking the job of organizing talks between the Afghan Taliban regime and several European countries and the United States.

– Together with our European colleagues, we intend to address a number of issues, including a representative political system, a plan to meet the acute humanitarian and economic crisis in the country, issues of security and counter-terrorism, as well as human rights – especially education for girls and women, says the spokesperson.

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