Seven Afghan civil society organisations based in Norway in a statement expressed their dissatisfaction with the Norwegian government regarding their invitation to the Taliban for the Oslo Freedom Forum.
These organisations described the move as "the [Norwegian] government's support to the Taliban”.
The Norwegian government has been criticised repeatedly for inviting Taliban officials to dialogues in Oslo. However, during the Oslo Freedom Forum, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway held the meetings with the Taliban behind closed doors and away from media glare.
Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the spokesman of the Taliban's Foreign Ministry; Ruhollah Omar, the head of communications of the Taliban's Ministry of Defence; Shamsuddin Akhundzada, an adviser to the Ministry of Interior and Shams ur-Rahman a translator of the Taliban's Ministry of Interior have participated in the Oslo Freedom Forum.
These organisations in a joint statement stressed that inviting the Taliban “encourages other terror groups to use violence to gain recognition and achieve their demands in and outside Norway”.
They asked the Norwegian government to refrain from helping the Taliban, because "it will strengthen the operational power and prolong the life of the Taliban Emirate.”
In response to such criticisms of the invitation of the Taliban officials to the Oslo Forum, the Norwegian Foreign Minister said that the invited Taliban members are not present in the leadership of the group’s government and are rather employees of the Taliban government.
Norway has been one of the few active countries in holding Taliban meetings with Afghan figures and activists outside Afghanistan.
