Norway seeks regional cooperation to end Afghan war

Norway has hosted talks between Afghanistan and its neighbours, including Pakistan, Iran, and India, to promote peace in the war-torn country through regional cooperation. Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store said that he was under “no illusions” about the influence of Afghanistan’s neighbours to promote their own interests. “But the hope is that we can, through the talks, strengthen cooperation in the region,” Store said ahead of Friday's talks at an Oslo hotel, that also included the US and other permanent members of the Security Council. Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin told reporters after the meeting that cooperation between neighbouring countries was necessary to find a solution to the conflict. 'Without regional collaboration ... to really come together and address these problems jointly, we won't succeed,' Ludin said. In an interview with Bergens Tidende newspaper, Store suggested that Norway was well suited to set up the talks, saying his country was very familiar with the political situation in Kabul and has no regional interests itself in the area. The daily reported that the meeting was the result of an intense and long-term diplomatic effort by Norwegian officials. “Norway’s foreign ministry has spent the past two years trying to get Afghanistan’s neighbours to speak with one another, and there have been several smaller meetings between parties involved, held in Oslo, Dubai and Istanbul, where the Turkish government has taken an initiative in the process,” it said. Ståle Ulrichsen of the Oslo-based foreign policy institute NUPI went further in promoting the suitability of Norway, which is not a member of Nato but has military personnel in Afghanistan, “Norway is a rather non-threatening country that has no major interests of its own,” Ulrichsen told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK). “It’s therefore easier for us to function as the neutral broker than, for example, the US,” he said.