Evacuations, negotiations with the Taliban, immigration: what to remember from Emmanuel Macron's interview on Afghanistan

They returned this Sunday.

The diplomatic team, including the French ambassador, and the soldiers of Operation Apagan landed in the afternoon at the military airport of Vélizy-Villacoublay (Yvelines), marking the end of the airlift set up between Kabul and Paris since the Taliban took power on August 15.

But France has not finished with Afghanistan: this is the message that Emmanuel Macron wanted to convey this Sunday evening, interviewed on TF1 from Iraq, where he participated in a regional summit.

• Towards continued evacuations?

Ending at Kabul airport at the same time as the departure of the Americans, set for August 31, the evacuations must continue elsewhere, judge Emmanuel Macron.

"We still have several thousand Afghans on our lists that we want to protect," Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche.

The Head of State wants the establishment of "a secure zone" to allow "all women and men who are at risk" to be able to leave Afghanistan, he said on Sunday evening on TF1. .

"There are still several hundred, several thousand women and men to protect," he insisted.

We did the best we could.

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🔴🗣️ #Afghanistan - @EmmanuelMacron: "We have initiated a dialogue, the objective is to obtain the humanitarian evacuations" of those "who are at risk. Will we get there? I cannot guarantee it."

📺 EXCLUSIVE @ TF1 @AlisonTassin @ACCoudray ➡ https://t.co/TLZVHMy6bO.

pic.twitter.com/sZcMb9FBbf

- TF1LeJT (@ TF1LeJT) August 29, 2021

In a joint statement, published this Sunday, a hundred countries including France revealed that the Taliban had made a commitment to allow the continuation of the evacuations.

"We have received assurances from the Taliban that all foreign nationals as well as any Afghan citizen with travel authorization issued by our countries will be allowed to travel safely and orderly to the points of departure, and to leave the country, ”they write.

• Negotiations with the Taliban

Nothing can be done without the Taliban, the French president said this Sunday evening.

On Thursday, a French delegation met representatives of the Taliban in Doha.

These discussions focused on the situation at Kabul airport and evacuation operations, according to the two parties.

Saturday, Emmanuel Macron had announced "discussions started" between France and the Taliban.

🔴🗣️ #Afghanistan - @EmmanuelMacron: "There are still several hundred, thousand" people "to protect. We are going to build with our partners, through negotiations with the Taliban, solutions to enable them to leave" the country.

📺 @ TF1 @AlisonTassin @ACCoudray.

pic.twitter.com/qNe9xLFYiD

- TF1LeJT (@ TF1LeJT) August 29, 2021

On TF1, Emmanuel Macron called to be "lucid".

"We have operations to conduct, which are evacuations" and "those who have control of Kabul and the (Afghan) territory are the Taliban, therefore in an operational manner, (...) we must have these discussions", he said. -He specifies.

But "this does not prejudge recognition," he said.

And the French president recalled the conditions imposed on the Taliban: "That they respect humanitarian rights, that they be very clear with all terrorist movements, (that they respect) human rights", and in particular of that of women.

• Migration problems?

A hot topic for Emmanuel Macron who, ten days ago, had burnt his wings by assuring from his first speech that he wanted to “protect” France “against significant irregular migratory flows”. Referring to future migratory "pressure", the French president however called "not to confuse" terrorism and immigration. "The situation we are going to experience is not comparable to 2015 (

Editor's note: and the Syrian crisis

)", underlined Emmanuel Macron, although, according to him, "there will be more people who will try to come to Europe".