US special envoy for Afghanistan arrives in Norway for humanitarian talks with Taliban

Oslo [Norway], January 24 : United States Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West on Monday arrived in Norway's capital city of Oslo to discuss the dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan with European and US officials alongside Afghan civil society and the Taliban delegation.
"Pleased to be in Oslo with Norwegian hosts and U.S.-Europe Group envoys... As we seek to address humanitarian crisis together with allies, partners, and relief orgs, we will continue clear-eyed diplomacy with the Taliban regarding our concerns and our abiding interest in a stable, rights-respecting, and inclusive Afghanistan," West tweeted.
According to West, representatives from the US Treasury Department, US Agency for International Development, and US Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights, Rina Amiri, have also arrived in Oslo for talks on Afghanistan, Sputnik reported.
West also welcomed Oslo's initiative in facilitating dialogue between the Afghan civil society and Taliban, noting that "civil society leaders are the backbone of healthy and prosperous economies and societies."
On Saturday, a delegation headed by the Taliban's acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, arrived in Norway on a three-day visit to deliberate on the provision of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan as well as "political, educational and economic issues," Sputnik reported.
The Taliban took over control of Kabul on August 15 last year and following this the country has been battered by deepening economic, humanitarian and security crisis.
According to the UN estimates, around half of the country's population needs humanitarian assistance, twice as many as in 2020, with about 22 million people facing acute food insecurity. The UN foresees that by the middle of this year, 97 per cent of Afghans may slide below the poverty line, Sputnik reported.