Women are still largely excluded from public employment and secondary schools for girls remain largely closed
\n OSLO
\nHuman 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.
\nIn 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.
\nThe Taliban delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaqqi.
\nOn the agenda will be \u201cthe 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\u201d, a US State Department official said.
\nThe hardline Islamists were toppled in 2001 but swiftly stormed back to power in August as international troops began their final withdrawal.
\nThe Taliban hope the talks will help \u201ctransform the atmosphere of war… into a peaceful situation\u201d, government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP on Saturday.
\nNo country has yet recognised the Taliban government, and Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt stressed that the talks would \u201cnot represent a legitimisation or recognition of the Taliban\u201d.
\n\u201cBut 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,\u201d Huitfeldt said.
\n\u2018Have to involve the government\u2019
\nThe humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated drastically since August.
\nInternational 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.
\nUnemployment has skyrocketed and civil servants\u2019 salaries have not been paid for months in the country already ravaged by several severe droughts.
\nHunger 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.
\n\u201cIt would be a mistake to submit the people of Afghanistan to a collective punishment just because the de facto authorities are not behaving properly\u201d, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres reiterated Friday.
\nA former UN representative to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, told AFP: \u201cWe can\u2019t keep distributing aid circumventing the Taliban.\u201d
\n\u201cIf you want to be efficient, you have to involve the government in one way or another\u201d.
\nThe 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.
\nWhile the Taliban claim to have modernised, women are still largely excluded from public employment and secondary schools for girls remain largely closed.
\n\u2018Gender apartheid\u2019
\nOn 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.
\nA former Afghan minister for mines and petrol who now lives in Norway, Nargis Nehan, said she had declined an invitation to take part.
\nShe told AFP she feared the talks would \u201cnormalise the Taliban and… strengthen them, while there is no way that they\u2019ll change\u201d.
\n\u201cIf 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,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cWhat guarantee is there this time that they will keep their promises?\u201d she asked, noting that women activists and journalists are still being arrested.
\nDavood Moradian, the head of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies now based outside Afghanistan, meanwhile criticised Norway\u2019s \u201ccelebrity-style\u201d peace initiative.
\n\u201cHosting a senior member of the Taliban casts doubt on Norway\u2019s global image as a country that cares for women\u2019s rights, when the Taliban has effectively instituted gender apartheid,\u201d he said.
\nNorway has a track record of mediating in conflicts, including in the Middle East, Sri Lanka and Colombia.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Women are still largely excluded from public employment and secondary schools for girls remain largely closed OSLO 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. In their first visit to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240340,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3297,192,3298,3299],"class_list":{"0":"post-240311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-humanitarian-aid","9":"tag-taliban","10":"tag-top-agenda","11":"tag-western-officials"},"yoast_head":"\n