By Rukhshana Media
The first Taliban delegation to the West, as the de facto authority of Afghanistan, left the Afghan capital on Saturday to participate in a summit hosted by the Norwegian government, Taliban officials said.
On Friday, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry announced that it had invited the Taliban officials to Oslo for a summit planned to be held from January 23 to January 25.
A Norwegian newspaper, VG, has reported that the Taliban are expected to meet with the Norwegian authorities and special representatives from the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, and the European Union.
The Taliban will also meet with a group of Afghans, including women and human rights activists, according to the Norwegian Foreign Ministry.
“It does not in any way imply any recognition of the coup that took place. We will make strong demands on the Taliban, but we do not know if they will implement them afterwards,” Anniken Huitfeldt, the Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister, told Euro News a day ahead of the summit.
The summit is taking place when the Taliban has escalated its clampdown on curtailing freedom of speech and buttressing its regime of gender apartheid by violently suppressing women’s voices.
Last week, the UN human rights experts warned that the Taliban are erasing women and girls from public life in Afghanistan by “institutionalizing large scale and systematic gender-based discrimination and violence against women and girls.”
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Human Rights Institute at San Jose State University (SJSU) also said the “Taliban rule has had a devastating impact on Afghan women and girls.” They said the Taliban policies have “created huge barriers to women’s and girls’ health and education, curtailed freedom of movement, expression, and association, and deprived many of earned income.”
Rukhshana Media talked to nine women from Kabul, Bamyan, Daikundi, Herat, and Kunduz provinces and a women rights activist who lives in France, asking them about their opinion about the summit.
On Saturday, a group of women in Bamyan protested against the summit and the systematic killing and disappearance of women since the Taliban took over.
“The Taliban have taken away our food, freedom, work, and education, and there is nothing left for the people of Afghanistan,” Muhadesa, a woman protester in Bamyan city, told Rukhshana Media. “Why would a European country [want to] hold a conference and invite this group when [we are] in such a situation?”
For Muhadesa, an official invitation could mean a step towards recognizing the Taliban, while the Taliban do not have legitimacy among the people of Afghanistan.
One of the organizers of the recent protests in Kabul, who spoke under the pseudonym, Abrisham, said that many summits had been held with the Taliban in Qatar and other countries over the past decade, but ultimately it proved that the Taliban are not willing to accept any condition or demand.
“Every step taken toward the Taliban is a step taken against the people of Afghanistan,” she said, noting the last time the EU officials met with the Taliban in Kabul, the houses of women who participated in protests were raided, and activists were arrested.
“We ask the countries of the world to understand that we, the people of Afghanistan, have been grappling with the Taliban for a long time now, and no one knows them better than us,” Abrisham added, asking the international community to be cautious when inviting the Taliban.
She believes the summit will not have a result because the Taliban do not understand the language of reasoning, which is why no “talks and meetings with this group had ever been successful.”
Marzia Rahmani, a women’s rights activist in Herat province, is worried about the message an official invite to the West might mean for women’s rights in Afghanistan. “The summit might be facilitating Taliban’s political recognition,” Rahmani said.
Who will represent women in this summit is one of the main concerns of many women.
Hoda Khamoush, one of the organizers of women’s protests in Kabul, is also invited to the summit.
Rahmani is particularly concerned about some familiar faces who have exploited the women’s cause in the past for their personal and political interests. “Some of the figures in the former government are said to be attending the meeting on behalf of women. They cannot be trusted,” she said.
Karima Azam, a women activist in Kunduz province, too, feels the women who used women’s rights over the past 20 years should not be allowed to represent women of Afghanistan.
“They are not doing anything for women who are suffering from the Taliban repression, and they might end up advocating for the Taliban,” Azam said.
Roqia Rasekh, a woman activist in Daikundi, also said that women attending the summit should defend women’s rights.
“We are disappointed with the world. The Taliban have restricted us, which is why we are fighting every day. But the world has not echoed our concern,” Rasekh said.
Rahela Yousefi, a journalist in Kabul, believes these kinds of meetings with the Taliban had “never been in the best interest of the Afghan people and Afghan women.”
These women all emphasized that the international community must not recognize the Taliban.
Golsum Zahra, an activist from Bamyan province, who now lives in France, said since the Taliban took over, the people of Afghanistan, particularly women, have lost the achievements of the past decades.
Zahra believes formal invitations such as the Oslo summit could be small steps toward recognizing the Taliban.
“Our concern is that this terrorist group should not be legitimized,” she said, adding that Norway has insulted the people of Afghanistan by officially inviting the Taliban to Olso.
Zahra hopes those invited to represent Afghan people, and Afghan women boycott the summit in protest to Norway’s decision to invite the Taliban.
The summit takes place when the Taliban increasingly restrict women’s rights in Afghanistan.
