Afghanistan: The EU Council does not give legitimacy to the Taleban government. “We’ll assess it in terms of rights and freedoms”, especially those of women and girls

“The operational efforts” of the EU and its member states “will be carefully gauged to the policies and actions of the temporary government appointed by the Taleban people”; the EU “will not give it any legitimacy”, but “will assess it in terms of the five indicators agreed by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the EU at their informal meeting in Slovenia on 3rd September 2021”. This is a passage from the document that was approved earlier today at the meeting of the EU Council of Ministers, laying down the EU’s conduct towards Afghanistan, a EU that is not relinquishing its “efforts for peace and stability in the country and for giving support to the population of Afghanistan”. The indicators that the Taleban government must meet are, however, respect for freedom of movement, human rights, international laws, the breaking of any relationship with terrorism, and the establishment of an inclusive government. “Women’s and girls’ rights” are “of particular interest” for the EU, the document says. The EU will monitor the Taleban government’s “policies and actions” but says it would not oppose to a “minimal presence in Kabul”, not least to ease “the delivery of humanitarian aids and the monitoring of the humanitarian situation, and to coordinate the safe, orderly departure of all foreign and Afghan citizens who wish to leave the country”. In addition, the EU has pledged to implement a “regional political platform for cooperation” with the Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries.
Valentina Bombelli