The European Union will open a dialogue with the Taliban | “They are the ones who won the war,” said Josep Borrell, the bloc’s foreign minister.

European Union (EU) plans to negotiate with Taliban. The bloc “will open a dialogue as soon as possible to avoid a humanitarian and potentially migratory catastrophe,” he said. the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell. The civil servant changed its position by arguing that contact with radical Islamists is necessary “because they are the ones who won the war in Afghanistan”. A devastated country which once again rules the insurgent group after 20 years of American military intervention and that of its allies which ended in resounding failure.

“The Taliban won the war, so we will have to talk to them,” Borrell insisted, contradicting the advanced position on July 31, when he announced that the EU would not recognize a Taliban government in Afghanistan. However, Borrell stressed that this does not mean that Europe will quickly recognize the new government, in brief statements after an urgent meeting of European foreign ministers.

“The dialogue should also focus on how to prevent the return of a foreign terrorist presence in Afghanistan,” Borrell said. And he estimated that “it is not a question of official recognition, but of negotiating with the Taliban”. “If I want 400 people, Afghans and their families, who have worked with us and the European Union delegations to arrive at the airport, you have to understand that I have to talk to them,” he concluded. The head of diplomacy insisted the EU will only cooperate with the insurgent group if it respects women’s rights and prevent the use of Afghan territory to host terrorist groups.

The USA and the “must see” scenes

The United States has argued that scenes of “devastating” chaos at Kabul airport were inevitable and announced a deal with the Taliban to ensure the safe passage of civilians wishing to leave Afghanistan.

Jake Sullivan, national security adviser to President Joe Biden, expressed compassion for the desperation of the hundreds of Afghans who attempted to board US planes taking off from Kabul, but denied that the scenes could have been avoided with a better planning. “When a civil war ends, with a rival force entering the capital, there are going to be scenes of chaos. There are going to be a lot of people leaving the country. It’s not something that can really be avoided.” , Sullivan said. in a speech.

“The alternative had costs”

The American official assured that, although “the images of the last days at the airport were harsh”, the alternative, according to Biden, would have been to accept another “human cost” even more unacceptable: “to send thousands soldiers fighting (the Taliban) and some of them die. ” “It wasn’t about saving women and girls or not. The alternative had its own human costs.”

Sullivan thus re-presented what happened in Afghanistan as a choice between staying in the conflict or not, despite the fact that most of Washington’s critics have not focused on Biden ordering the withdrawal, but on its hasty execution. .

By early July, the Pentagon had already 90% completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, but the complex process of evacuating thousands of Americans and Afghans forced Biden to send 7,000 troops to Kabul, almost triple the 2 500 in May in the country.

To all this, the White House announced that next week Biden and his British counterpart Boris Johnson have agreed to hold a virtual summit of G7 leaders on Afghanistan.