EU must move quickly to push back against Russian & Chinese influence in Afghanistan or face being made IRRELEVANT – FM Borrell
The EU must intervene immediately and not allow Russia and China to take control of the situation in Afghanistan and become the main players in Kabul, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs told MEPs on Thursday morning.
Josep Borrell expressed his opinion that the EU must take immediate steps in the country.
“Faced with the disturbing images of Taliban takeover, we Europeans and the international community have to ask ourselves what went wrong,” Borrell said. “What we cannot do is let the Chinese and Russians take control of the situation and be supporters of Kabul, and we become irrelevant.”
To work out the bloc’s next actions, he convened a meeting on Tuesday with the EU foreign ministers, he said, also noting that he hopes to work closely with the US to intensify diplomatic efforts.
Also on rt.com Putin discusses situation in Afghanistan with presidents of Iran and TajikistanThe high representative called the situation in Afghanistan a “catastrophe,” saying that Brussels now has to face a “painful reality on the ground.”
“What has happened raises many questions about the West’s 20 years of engagement in the country and what we were able to achieve,” he said.
The situation in Afghanistan has intensified in recent weeks, following the US decision to withdraw its troops. On August 15, militants from the Taliban entered the Afghan capital of Kabul and declared that they had taken control of the entire nation, including all its major cities and border checkpoints. On the same day, ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
Ghani became president of Afghanistan in September 2014, marking the first time in the country’s history that power was democratically transferred. Since his election, Ghani has enjoyed a close relationship with the US, which has pumped almost a trillion dollars into the country. According to a 2019 study by Brown University, Washington has spent around $978 billion in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 2001.
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