BRUSSELS, The European Union Tuesday said it is too early to decide on relations with the new Afghan authorities but said it has to deal with them.
“Today it is too early to decide what kind of relations we will develop with the new Afghan authorities,” President of the European Council, Charles Michel, told a press conference in Brussels after participating in the virtual G7 leaders’ meeting on Afghanistan earlier today.
“This will be subject to strict conditions, regarding the deeds and attitude of the new regime,” he clarified.
“We call for an inclusive political settlement and if we want to remain a positive influence for the Afghan people, especially in supporting their basic needs, we will have to deal with the new authorities,” said Michel.
He said the G7 meeting tackled “our most pressing priority: the safe evacuation of the coalition’s citizens, Afghan staff, and their families.” Michel said the EU will do its part, to support the safety and proper living conditions of Afghans, who flee their country and will work with the countries in the region, especially Iran, Pakistan, and central Asia, to address the different needs.
He said he raised raised this issue with the US and partners on two particular aspects: first, the need to secure the airport, as long as necessary, to complete the operations; and second, a fair and equitable access to the airport, for all nationals entitled to evacuation.
On the geopolitical implications of developments in Afghanistan, Michel said “ending the military operation in Afghanistan is not the end of our commitment to promoting rule of law, democracy, and human rights in the world.” “There will be more lessons, to draw from what happened in Afghanistan,” he added.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson – representing the G7’s current presidency – called this meeting to urgently discuss the situation in Afghanistan and to coordinate their action.
On her part, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, told the joint press conference that during the G7 meeting they discussed evacuations, immediate humanitarian aid , longer term development assistance and possible scenarios for refugees in need of protections.
She said most of the EU staff including the Afghan staff and their families have been evacuated from Afghanistan.
On humanitarian aid, she said key EU facilities, medical aid, food distribution, emergency , water supply and sanitation are mostly still running.
Von der Leyen said the European Commission will propose to almost quadruple the humanitarian aid coming from the EU budget for Afghanistan.
“We had planned initially for more than 50 million euro (USD 58 million) for the year 2021. We will now increase it to over 200 million euro (USD 234 million) for the year 2021. This will help meet the urgent needs of Afghans both in Afghanistan but also of course in the neighbouring host countries,” she noted.
The EU has set aside 1 billion euro (USD 1.1 billion) for the next seven years for Afghanistan in the EU development assistance.
“This aid is now frozen. And it is frozen until we have solid guarantees and credible actions on the ground that the conditions are being met,” she said.
Referring to the issue of migration, Von der Leyen said the people most at risk are educated women, are girls, are female journalists, human rights activists, female teachers, judges, lawyers in Afghanistan.
She said 50 countries took part in the ISAF NATO mission, and 36 countries took part in NATO?’s Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan.
“So to protect these most vulnerable is clearly a matter for global cooperation and it has to be dealt with as such from the start. These people should not fall into smugglers’ hands. They need safe pathways,” she added.
Source: Kuwait News Agency