A secretly arranged meeting in Finland on Wednesday between top US- and Russian defense officials was being viewed as “important” for Norway, too. The war on terrorism reportedly topped the agenda, and showed that there’s still room for cooperation between the two rivals. Norwegian Broadcastng (NRK) carried extensive coverage of the meeting after it was […]
Norwegian frigate under US command
September 22, 2021
UPDATED: Norway seems to be relying more than ever on the US for its defense, now through base policy and fleet agreements that go beyond Norway’s membership in the NATO alliance. For the first time ever, one of the country’s four frigates has been put under US command for the next nine months, while Norwegian […]
Fate of military equipment ‘unsure’
August 30, 2021
Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen said neither he nor military brass know what’s happened to around NOK 600 million worth of weapons, vehicles, communications equipment and other military hardware that had been provided to Afghanistan’s security forces. They either fled or surrended to the Taliban in recent weeks, leaving a fortune of modern equipment behind. Nearly […]
Afghan evacuation ‘completely over’
August 30, 2021
Norway pulled its last remaining military personnel out of Afghanistan in the early morning hours of Monday. That also brings an end to the chaotic evacuation of both Norwegian and Afghan civilians during the past week, and the closure of Norway’s last remaining military field hospital at the airport in Kabul. A deadly terrorist attack […]
Bombing in Kabul halts evacuations
August 27, 2021
UPDATED: Norway’s military field hospital inside the airport in Kabul was still operating and busy on Friday, after bomb blasts in and around the Afghan capital’s airport area Thursday afternoon. All Norwegian government personnel still in Afghanistan were accounted for, according to Lt Col Ivar Moen at the Norwegian military’s operative headquarters, but evacuation efforts had […]
Defense minister comes under fire
August 25, 2021
Frank Bakke-Jensen has stirred controversy in his role as defense minister on earlier occasions, but this week he was all but being publicly shamed. The target of the complaints: Bakke-Jensen’s decision to campaign for his Conservative Party in his home county of Troms og Finnmark and then spend a day at home in Northern Norway, […]
Police and special forces sent to Kabul
August 24, 2021
Norwegian police and members of the military’s special forces have been sent back to Afghanistan, while Norway’s military field hospital in Kabul has to be shut down. The goal is to provide reinforcements and speed work underway to evacuate both Norwegian- and foreign citizens by the Taliban’s deadline of August 31. “It’s extremely demanding there,” […]
Bitter end to being ‘a good NATO ally’
August 23, 2021
NEWS ANALYSIS: As more flights land in Oslo with evacuees from Afghanistan, there’s no end to the soul-searching over Norway’s involvement in the war-torn country over the past 20 years. Calls have gone out for a new evaluation of the Afghan mission, even after a Norwegian government-appointed commission concluded five years ago that Norway didn’t […]
Evacuees arriving from Afghanistan
August 20, 2021
UPDATED: The first flights to evacuate both Norwegian and Afghan citizens from Kabul have arrived in Oslo, but hundreds if not thousands more people fleeing the country are expected. Chaos after the withdrawal of NATO allies is complicating the evacuation process, while uncertainty prevails over how many Afghan refugees Norway will be willing to take […]
Norway honoured its wartime veterans
August 19, 2021
Canons roared at noon and both the king and prime minister were on hand Thursday to honour Norwegian veterans from World War II. Norway’s Veterans Day is traditionally celebrated on Liberation Day, May 8th, but Corona restrictions forced a postponement of the formal ceremonies for wartime heroes. King Harald II, his sister Princess Astrid, Crown […]
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