Afghanistan: EU admitted to dialogue with Taliban on humanitarian aid, but will impose conditions

The High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, reiterated this Thursday that the bloc will have to dialogue with the Taliban regime provide humanitarian aid to the Afghan people and succeed in evacuating all those who still want to leave the country, although he clarified that the relationship will depend on a series of “conditions”.

Upon their arrival at the informal meeting that foreign ministers are having in Slovenia, The head of European diplomacy explained that the two priorities of the EU at the moment are to bring humanitarian aid to all those who need it and to get the collaborators out of the country. European institutions or vulnerable people who “did not get a seat” on planes that left Kabul airport before August 31st.

“It requires dealing with the Taliban. We will see how to do it in a coordinated way, setting conditions and depending on the fulfillment of these conditions, the type of government they form and their behavior, we will have a successful agreement with them.», Defended himself.

Borrell insisted that interacting with Islamists “does not mean being recognized”, although he later distinguished between a “factual” recognition for “solving practical problems” and a “political” recognition that “is condition-based” and “takes time and to see how things evolve”.

The Polish minister also discussed the EU’s future relations with the Taliban regime, Zbigniew Rau, who specified, in the same sense as Borrell, that there will be no recognition “without conditions. “It is necessary to cooperate with them, but to recognize them legally, they must prove that they deserve it and the human rights factor is crucial,” he argued.

Some of the 27 ministers, such as the Danish Jeppe Kofod or the Portuguese Augusto Santos, came to the meeting stressing the importance of “thinking” and “learning the lessons” from the Afghan crisis. “We have to think collectively,” said the second, so that other “stabilization and protection processes can work better.”

For its part, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, confided that the 27 will give a “united” response to the situation in order to evacuate “as soon as possible” to employees who have failed to leave the country and to “To be able to protect human rights, especially of women and minorities who are now in danger.”

In turn, the Greek minister Nikos Dendias indicated that the Afghan crisis should also be discussed specifically from a migration point of view, especially since “some countries may try to use (migration) to put pressure on the EU”.

Tougher sanctions for Belarus

In reality, representatives of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland spoke on Thursday of the “migration crisis” they are facing after Belarus opened its borders to migrants as a form of pressure on the EU.

“We must be prepared to possible migration crisis, we are already facing it. It is a growing concern and Afghans fleeing their country may choose the eastern route that (Alexander) Lukashenko openedSaid Lithuanian Gabrielus Landsbergis.

For his part, the Latvian Edgars Rinkevics called the performance of the Lukashenko regime a “hybrid attack” and he argued that the three countries will ask the EU to impose “tougher sanctions” on Minsk for its activities.

(With information from Europa Press)

Read on: