Senior European diplomat Borrell calls for dialogue with Taliban in Afghanistan – POLITICO

Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, on Tuesday called for dialogue with the Taliban in Afghanistan to avoid a humanitarian crisis, but said that did not mean international recognition.

“We need to get in touch with the authorities in Kabul… whoever they are. The Taliban won the war, ”he said, speaking after a video meeting of EU foreign ministers in which they discussed the situation in Afghanistan after Islamist militants took over. control of the country faster than expected in Washington and Brussels.

“We will have to speak with them in order to engage in a dialogue, as soon as necessary, to avoid a potential humanitarian and migration catastrophe,” he added, citing one of the biggest fears of EU officials – that the situation in Afghanistan could trigger a migration crisis like that of Syria in 2015. Such a dialogue “will also have to focus on ways to prevent the foreign terrorist presence in Afghanistan”, he added, referring to the another great fear in many capitals (Brussels itself was affected by a terrorist attack in 2016).

Borrell also announced that he would send a “reinforcement” from the EU delegation to Kabul to “continue a dialogue with the Taliban on practical matters”, mentioning as a priority the need to evacuate around 400 Afghans and their families. who worked for the EU.

Borrell described the events of the past few days as “the most important geopolitical event that has occurred since Crimea was taken by Russia”, admitting mistakes were made while saying “it didn’t is not the European Union which decided to leave Afghanistan “. This decision was taken by the “President [Donald] Trump ”and“ later implemented by the next US administration ”.

The Taliban have so far attempted to portray a more subdued picture and while EU foreign ministers met, the militant group has held a press conference in which they tried to reassure the Afghans and the international community of their intentions.

Still, Borrell was not impressed. “They look alike, but they speak better English,” he said.

When an Afghan journalist nearly cried as he asked Borrell not to recognize the Taliban (a similar thing happened at a press conference by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg) without setting clear conditions, the senior EU diplomat said: “I have heard your feelings and concerns.

“I did not say that we were going to recognize the Taliban, I just said that we had to speak with them … and we will put conditions” on any support from the EU, he added, repeating that the respect for human rights and UN resolutions be key (conditions were also set out in a declaration published at the end of the two-hour EU meeting).

“We will use … all our levers to uphold human rights,” Borrell said, adding that he was aware that it “sounds a bit like wishful thinking.”