The Fort Worth Press - Humanitarian aid tops agenda as Taliban meet Western officials

USD -
AED 3.673035
AFN 71.323752
ALL 89.53094
AMD 391.220403
ANG 1.790208
AOA 916.000367
ARS 1073.553904
AUD 1.656644
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.70397
BAM 1.766685
BBD 2.011533
BDT 121.061023
BGN 1.79063
BHD 0.376957
BIF 2961.474188
BMD 1
BND 1.332099
BOB 6.885493
BRL 5.827404
BSD 0.996193
BTN 84.992526
BWP 13.874477
BYN 3.260694
BYR 19600
BZD 2.001147
CAD 1.421295
CDF 2873.000362
CHF 0.861245
CLF 0.025114
CLP 963.730396
CNY 7.28155
CNH 7.28834
COP 4210.53
CRC 503.907996
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 99.605696
CZK 23.03904
DJF 177.720393
DKK 6.81224
DOP 62.907224
DZD 133.59404
EGP 50.591504
ERN 15
ETB 131.300523
EUR 0.912925
FJD 2.314904
FKP 0.762682
GBP 0.774585
GEL 2.750391
GGP 0.762682
GHS 15.48644
GIP 0.762682
GMD 72.139607
GNF 8645.949925
GTQ 7.693185
GYD 209.183137
HKD 7.774975
HNL 25.577483
HRK 6.878904
HTG 130.793752
HUF 364.387873
IDR 16744.473258
ILS 3.746145
IMP 0.762682
INR 85.338154
IQD 1306.506853
IRR 42336.988543
ISK 130.567142
JEP 0.762682
JMD 157.094395
JOD 0.70904
JPY 147.21804
KES 129.238254
KGS 86.692362
KHR 3971.595158
KMF 445.147581
KPW 899.928114
KRW 1451.374019
KWD 0.307615
KYD 0.83156
KZT 501.917416
LAK 21606.921497
LBP 89544.522786
LKR 295.184792
LRD 199.781411
LSL 18.739948
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.82245
MAD 9.516652
MDL 17.902827
MGA 4631.875059
MKD 56.260592
MMK 2099.545327
MNT 3504.730669
MOP 8.010542
MRU 39.660628
MUR 45.370989
MVR 15.441096
MWK 1732.00408
MXN 20.438104
MYR 4.442621
MZN 63.8826
NAD 18.739948
NGN 1536.123004
NIO 36.754903
NOK 10.75399
NPR 136.60505
NZD 1.788861
OMR 0.384952
PAB 1
PEN 3.666345
PGK 4.106218
PHP 57.053122
PKR 279.986588
PLN 3.82525
PYG 7937.001208
QAR 3.640374
RON 4.504564
RSD 106.000243
RUB 84.082892
RWF 1417.183198
SAR 3.750373
SBD 8.499278
SCR 14.328056
SDG 600.377285
SEK 10.016855
SGD 1.334705
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.750371
SLL 20969.501083
SOS 569.677964
SRD 36.564761
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.75037
SYP 13001.416834
SZL 18.739948
THB 34.107305
TJS 10.883523
TMT 3.497769
TND 3.055277
TOP 2.408314
TRY 37.985795
TTD 6.752072
TWD 33.07735
TZS 2654.318194
UAH 41.285264
UGX 3652.036928
UYU 42.304314
UZS 12908.018961
VES 70.043118
VND 25805.374257
VUV 123.606268
WST 2.823884
XAF 593.530108
XAG 0.033825
XAU 0.000331
XCD 2.707263
XDR 0.753961
XOF 593.530108
XPF 107.975038
YER 245.884458
ZAR 19.08851
ZMK 9001.203587
ZMW 27.959236
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    1.0200

    69.02

    +1.48%

  • CMSC

    0.1100

    22.37

    +0.49%

  • RYCEF

    -1.3800

    8.42

    -16.39%

  • BCC

    1.0200

    95.65

    +1.07%

  • NGG

    -3.2100

    66.18

    -4.85%

  • SCS

    -0.1000

    10.64

    -0.94%

  • RIO

    -3.6600

    54.77

    -6.68%

  • RELX

    -2.6500

    48.79

    -5.43%

  • GSK

    -2.4350

    36.575

    -6.66%

  • JRI

    -0.8900

    11.93

    -7.46%

  • BCE

    0.1050

    22.765

    +0.46%

  • CMSD

    0.0900

    22.76

    +0.4%

  • VOD

    -0.8470

    8.523

    -9.94%

  • BTI

    -1.7800

    40.14

    -4.43%

  • AZN

    -5.0450

    68.875

    -7.32%

  • BP

    -2.8450

    28.495

    -9.98%

Humanitarian aid tops agenda as Taliban meet Western officials
Humanitarian aid tops agenda as Taliban meet Western officials

Humanitarian aid tops agenda as Taliban meet Western officials

Human rights and the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, where hunger threatens millions, will be in focus at talks opening Sunday in Oslo between the Taliban, the West and members of Afghan civil society.

Text size:

In their first visit to Europe since returning to power in August, the Taliban will meet Norwegian officials as well as representatives of the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Italy and the European Union.

The Taliban delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaqqi.

On the agenda will be "the formation of a representative political system, responses to the urgent humanitarian and economic crises, security and counter-terrorism concerns, and human rights, especially education for girls and women", a US State Department official said.

The hardline Islamists were toppled in 2001 but swiftly stormed back to power in August as international troops began their final withdrawal.

The Taliban hope the talks will help "transform the atmosphere of war... into a peaceful situation", government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP on Saturday.

No country has yet recognised the Taliban government, and Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt stressed that the talks would "not represent a legitimisation or recognition of the Taliban".

"But we must talk to the de facto authorities in the country. We cannot allow the political situation to lead to an even worse humanitarian disaster," Huitfeldt said.

- 'Have to involve the government' -

The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated drastically since August.

International aid, which financed around 80 percent of the Afghan budget, came to a sudden halt and the United States has frozen $9.5 billion in assets in the Afghan central bank.

Unemployment has skyrocketed and civil servants' salaries have not been paid for months in the country already ravaged by several severe droughts.

Hunger now threatens 23 million Afghans, or 55 percent of the population, according to the United Nations, which says it needs $4.4 billion from donor countries this year to address the humanitarian crisis.

"It would be a mistake to submit the people of Afghanistan to a collective punishment just because the de facto authorities are not behaving properly", UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres reiterated Friday.

A former UN representative to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, told AFP: "We can't keep distributing aid circumventing the Taliban."

"If you want to be efficient, you have to involve the government in one way or another".

The international community is waiting to see how the Islamic fundamentalists intend to govern Afghanistan, after having largely trampled on human rights during their first stint in power between 1996 and 2001.

While the Taliban claim to have modernised, women are still largely excluded from public employment and secondary schools for girls remain largely closed.

- 'Gender apartheid' -

On the first day of the Oslo talks held behind closed doors, the Taliban delegation is expected to meet Afghans from civil society, including women leaders and journalists.

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

She told AFP she feared the talks would "normalise 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.

"What guarantee is there this time that they will keep their promises?" she asked, noting that women activists and journalists are still being arrested.

Davood Moradian, the head of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies now based outside Afghanistan, meanwhile criticised Norway's "celebrity-style" peace initiative.

"Hosting a senior member of the Taliban casts doubt on Norway's global image as a country that cares for women's rights, when the Taliban has effectively instituted gender apartheid," he said.

Norway has a track record of mediating in conflicts, including in the Middle East, Sri Lanka and Colombia.

S.Jones--TFWP