Norway welcomes bin Laden death

Norwegian foreign minister Jonas Gahr Støre has hailed the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden as “a pleasing breakthrough in the fight against terror,” while Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg warned that “the fight against terrorism is not over.” Speaking to news agency NTB, Støre said, “I praise the American action that led to the [...]

Officer’s body arrives back home

UPDATED: Crown Prince Haakon, Defense Minister Grete Faremo and top military officials were among those attending the arrival in Oslo Thursday of the flight carrying Lt Col Siri Skare. The career military officer was killed in last week’s attack on a UN office in Afghanistan. “It is with deep sorrow that we return Siri to [...]

Aid office closed after attack on UN

Memorial services were held over the weekend in honor of Norwegian officer Siri Skare, killed in Friday’s attack on the UN. Meanwhile, Norway’s largest humanitarian organization in the country announced Monday it was closing its office where the attack occurred in Mazar-i-Sharif, as violent demonstrations continued to sweep across Afghanistan. The Norwegian Refugee Council (Flyktninghjelpen) [...]

Female pilot killed in Afghanistan

UPDATED: Norwegian defense officials confirmed Friday night that Lt. Col. Siri Skare, the country’s first female military pilot, was among at least a dozen victims killed in an afternoon attack on the United Nations office in Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan. Skare is Norway’s first female officer to be killed in service in the war-torn nation. It [...]

Norway joined NATO in suppressing reports of civilian Afghan deaths

New WikiLeaks releases, accessed by Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, continue to embarrass the Norwegian government as well as the US’, with latest revelations suggesting that Norway’s ambassadors joined their US-led NATO allies in attempts to avoid a messy debate on civilian casualties in Afghanistan. Leaked cables from the American delegation to NATO, written in September 2008, [...]

WikiLeaks: Norway talked to Taliban

New WikiLeaks documents made available to Oslo newspaper Aftenposten suggest that Norwegian officials took the initiative to open negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan last year. Norway denies the contact, reports of which come just a week after other reports revealed previously unknown contact between Norway and Hamas. Diplomatic cables from February 7, 2010 reveal [...]

WikiLeaks unveils embassy documents

Norwegian media were reporting Sunday night that among the tens of thousands of diplomatic documents revealed by WikiLeaks, more than 700 were sent from the US Embassy in Oslo. Their topics ranged from terrorism threats to nuclear disarmament. WikiLeaks moved forward with what the US State Department had been dreading on Sunday, publicizing as many [...]

Norway plots Afghan withdrawal

UPDATED: Three of Norway’s top government ministers traveled to the NATO summit in Lisbon on Friday, where the war in Afghanistan was high on the agenda. The Norwegian ministers want to withdraw their troops by the end of 2014, but shied away from any exact deadline. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre [...]

Ex-UN envoy stirs Afghan debate

UPDATED: Kai Eide, the Norwegian diplomat who until recently served as the United Nations’ top envoy in Kabul, has revealed a new bitterness over how Afghanistan and its war against the Taliban is being run. He wants to stir debate on Afghanistan, and has unleashed harsh criticism of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, American officials playing [...]

Norway to reshuffle its Afghan troops

Norwegian troops are being pulled back from high risk areas in Afghanistan, not only because Afghan troops are supposedly ready to take their place. There’s a limit, officers claim, to how long Norway can continue supplying fresh batches of soldiers ready for action. A troop reshuffle is also a consequence of Norwegian troops having been in action [...]

NRK: ‘Deadly attack on Norwegians in Kabul was warned in advance’

Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) was reporting Friday morning that international forces in Afghanistan were warned in advance about a terrorist attack on a Kabul hotel in January 2008, during which a Norwegian journalist was among those killed and foreign ministry staff wounded. NRK reported that it obtained access to secret documents via the controversial online service [...]

Military uproar over ‘raw’ attitudes

Norway’s military establishment was in an uproar on Monday after soldiers reportedly have showed an “unacceptable attitude,” indicating little remorse over killing and claiming that war “was better than sex.” The soldiers’ offensive but brutally honest comments reportedly will be published in a new magazine called ALFA and set to debut next week. Newspaper VG [...]

Soldiers reveal a hunter mentality

A new book based on Norwegian soldiers’ frank descriptions of their actions in Afghanistan has revealed a hunter mentality among them, as they track down and kill suspected insurgents. Politicians claim they’re not surprised. The book, launched on Thursday by Oslo publishing firm Kagge Forlag, has the title Med mandat til å drepe (“With a [...]

Norwegian soldiers under fire daily

Norwegian soldiers on duty in Afghanistan have been the targets of 165 attacks and several road bombs during the first half of this year. Being under fire, though, isn’t scaring away new recruits keen to join the NATO-led operations. Newspaper Aftenposten reports that the area in northern Afghanistan where Norwegian troops are based was formerly [...]

Soldiers keen to serve in Afghanistan

Despite rising casualty rates and some renewed calls to bring troops home, Norwegian soldiers are showing strong interest in serving in Afghanistan. More than half of this year’s recruits to officers’ training school want to head overseas. Military officials reported a rise in inquiries just after four Norwegian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in June, [...]

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