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EU requires Taliban to open humanitarian corridors to neighboring countries

2021-08-25T00:03:03.136Z


The 27 do not currently offer resettlement quotas as the United Kingdom or Canada have done. The main community leaders announced on Tuesday that the EU will make its relationship with Afghanistan, in particular development aid, subject to the opening of humanitarian corridors that allow people who feel in danger under the Taliban regime to exit to neighboring countries. especially women and girls. The announcement by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the Presiden


The main community leaders announced on Tuesday that the EU will make its relationship with Afghanistan, in particular development aid, subject to the opening of humanitarian corridors that allow people who feel in danger under the Taliban regime to exit to neighboring countries. especially women and girls. The announcement by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has come after an urgent and virtual meeting of the G-7 in which the United States has not committed to continue guaranteeing the security of the evacuation process through the airport of the Afghan capital beyond August 31. The meeting was attended by, in addition to the seven members of the group (USA, Canada, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Italy) and the leaders of the EU,the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, and the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres.

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Von der Leyen has made it clear at a press conference that he is willing to use the Commission's powerful support program for Afghanistan (1,000 million euros allocated for the next seven years) as a lever to get the new authorities in Kabul to allow the exit across land borders once the air evacuation program concludes with the US withdrawal.

"Let's not underestimate our sources [of power]," Von der Leyen said about the possibility that the Taliban accept European demands. "Afghanistan is a poor country, that needs help, that has suffered recent terrible droughts and that is being hit by the covid", has described the president of the Commission the panorama of a country where even with the pro-Western government overthrown on August 15 there were more than 12 million people in need of international humanitarian aid.

The United Nations estimates that the number of people in need will rise to 18 million, more than 45% of the population, with more than 3.5 million people forcibly displaced as a result of the confrontation between the Taliban insurgents and the government supported by the international community, which resulted in the flight of the former president and the coming to power of the fundamentalist group. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) anticipates that many of the internally displaced will seek refuge in neighboring countries, increasing pressure on Iran and Pakistan, which already host several million Afghans.

Von der Leyen has assured that he will propose to quadruple humanitarian aid for this year, which would go from 57 million euros to about 200 million euros.

But it will keep development aid frozen until it sees the attitude of the new rulers.

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The EU, however, has not yet offered a number of resettlement places for Afghans wishing to start a new life in Europe.

Canada and the United Kingdom have offered almost 50,000 places in total during the G-7 meeting, further highlighting the European silence.

Von der Leyen has justified the lack of supply by recalling that resettlements are the competence of the Member States. "The Commission cannot offer resettlements because it has no territory," German policy recalled. And he has assured that the possible European offer is being negotiated within the framework of the Ministers of Justice and Interior, although he has insisted that, in his opinion, Afghan refugees are not an exclusive matter of the EU but of the dozens of countries that for two decades they participated in successive military missions in Afghanistan.

Michel has also warned that the EU will shield its borders to prevent human traffickers from opening routes from Afghanistan or third countries to Community territory.

"Let us be clear, we will not allow the creation of a new smuggling market, we are determined to keep migratory flows under control and to protect the borders of the EU", stressed the President of the Council.

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Charles Michel has assured after the G-7 that "it is too early to decide what kind of relations we will develop with the new Afghan authorities."

But he has warned that, in any case, "will be subject to strict conditions, in terms of his works and his attitude."

Michel has set the four conditions that will mark Brussels' relationship with Kabul: that the Taliban allow the arrival of humanitarian aid, that they respect human rights, that they prevent the establishment of terrorist groups and that they combat drug trafficking.

Von der Leyen has warned that "for certain groups, we need unconditional access", referring to women or minorities who could be in greater danger from the new Afghan authorities.

The EU was in favor of maintaining a selective evacuation program through the Kabul airport, to transfer to European territory those most exposed to reprisals or violence from the Taliban. Von der Leyen has insisted that the priority group must be women. "We know who they are and we know how much they have fought for us," said the president of the Commission, referring to the thousands of women who have been trained during the 20 years of international occupation of the country.

"In 2021, 27% of the members of the Afghan Parliament and a fifth of the civil servants were women," said the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, during a special session of the Rights Council on Tuesday. Human Rights on Afghanistan. Bachelet recalled that "3.5 million girls went to school this year, compared to 1999, when girls could not go to secondary school and there were only 9,000 enrolled in primary school."

Europeans fear that many of these women, who have developed a working life as judges, teachers or journalists, will not be able to leave the country before August 31. According to the US, since August 14 (the eve of the fall of Kabul to the Taliban), the allies have evacuated some 58,700 people. The evacuation plan has accelerated in the last hours and has gone from 7,800 people on August 21 to 21,600 this Tuesday. But the withdrawal of US troops, who guarantee airport security, will foreseeably put an end to the main escape route for people who, for reasons of sex, profession, belief or sexual orientation, fear for their lives in an Afghanistan under the absolute control of the United States. Taliban fundamentalism.

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Source: elparis

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