Torstein Dahle is a Norwegian politician and economist. He works at the Bergen University College

Bergen University College

Bergen University College is a Norwegian public institution of higher education, established in August 1994 by the merging of six former independent colleges in Bergen, Norway.The College is organised in 3 faculties:*Faculty of Education...

 and represents Red

Red (Norway)

The Red Party is a Norwegian far-left political party and the leading party to the left of the Socialist Left and the Labour Party in Norway. Since 2007 the party has sought a seat in Parliament; the only counties in which they have a realistic chance of earning a seat are Oslo and Hordaland...

 in the city council of Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

. Dahle was born in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

.

Since its foundation in 2007 Dahle was leader of the Red

Red (Norway)

The Red Party is a Norwegian far-left political party and the leading party to the left of the Socialist Left and the Labour Party in Norway. Since 2007 the party has sought a seat in Parliament; the only counties in which they have a realistic chance of earning a seat are Oslo and Hordaland...

, and he was previously leader of Red's predecessor, Red Electoral Alliance

Red Electoral Alliance

Red Electoral Alliance was an alliance of left-wing groups formed into a Norwegian political party to promote revolutionary far-left ideals into the Norwegian parliament...

. He was succeeded by Turid Thomassen

Turid Thomassen

Turid Thomassen is a Norwegian politician who since 2010 has been the party leader of the Norwegian left-wing party Red following Torstein Dahle....

 in 2010. He was also a founding member of Red Electoral Alliance

Red Electoral Alliance

Red Electoral Alliance was an alliance of left-wing groups formed into a Norwegian political party to promote revolutionary far-left ideals into the Norwegian parliament...

 and Workers' Communist Party

Workers' Communist Party (Norway)

The Workers' Communist Party was a Norwegian communist party . AKP was a maoist party and one of two communist parties in Norway; the other was the older Communist Party of Norway which has remained pro-Soviet. The relationship between the two parties was characterized by strong hostility.AKP was...

 in 1973, but left the latter in 1997.

On 23 July 2007 he became subject to media attention when he said that the Taliban and other Afghan rebels had the full right of fighting the Norwegian soldiers of the International Security Assistance Force

International Security Assistance Force

The International Security Assistance Force is a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan established by the United Nations Security Council on 20 December 2001 by Resolution 1386 as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement...

 force stationed in Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

. The attention occurred only days later with the death of that occurred when a Norwegian army officer in the Logar Province as a Norwegian military unit came under hostile fire. He later commented that he did not support the death of Norwegian military personnel.

Dahle is 204 cm tall and openly homosexual.