Taliban to hold meeting in Norway next week

By JAN M. OLSEN and KATHY GANNON
Associated Press

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Taliban delegation will travel to Norway next week for talks. It will meet with representatives of the Norwegian authorities and several allied countries but also with civil society activists and human rights defenders from Afghanistan. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry said Friday that the Scandinavian country has invited representatives of the Taliban to Oslo from Jan. 23 to Jan. 25. The statement didn’t say which other countries would take part in the meeting. Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt stressed that the meeting was “not a legitimation or recognition of the Taliban. But we must talk to those who in practice govern the country today.”