On 14 April 2021, President Biden announced the withdrawal of all American troops from Afghanistan by 11 September. The partners of the coalition (Resolute Support Mission) approved this decision. This development troubled the European Parliament, which called at its plenary session of 8 June for new forms of engagement in the country, to support its development, rights of women and minorities; this concern was expressly shared by the High Representative of the EU Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, in his address to the assembly (see EUROPE 12736/4). On 14 June, the leaders of the 30 member countries of NATO met in Brussels: in their joint Summit Communiqué, they spoke of a “new chapter” in their relations with Afghanistan and stressed their shared determination to support the “ongoing (…) peace process” (see EUROPE 12740/3). It was already clear that the Taliban had begun a highly effective offensive: six days later, they controlled more than a quarter of the country’s districts (124 out of 407).
On 5 July, European Commission announced that it was granting emergency aid of €25 million to Afghanistan, to tackle the food shortages resulting from a severe drought. The money would be channelled by partner NGOs and no reference was made to the political and military context (see EUROPE 12755/21). Four days later, the Taliban controlled half of the country; meanwhile, Biden announced that the troop withdrawal would be brought forward to 31 August. On 12 July, the EU Foreign Ministers met for a Council. In accordance with their initial agenda (see EUROPE 12759/15), they spent only a short amount of time discussing the situation in Afghanistan, lending more attention to Lebanon, Ethiopia and connectivity, amongst other things. The final press release reported that “the High Representative emphasised the need to urge the Taliban to engage in substantive and inclusive peace negotiations, and to reach out to the countries in the region and the broader international community to play a constructive role in support of the Afghan peace process”.
In Washington on 13 July, an internal memo of the Department of State, which had been alerted by American nationals present in the theatre of operations, raised the alarm about the rapid advance of the Taliban and the collapse of the Afghan army. President Biden, who was almost certainly informed of this, opted not to change his timetable. Two days later, the head of the EP’s delegation for relations with Afghanistan and the chair of the committee on human rights of the Afghan National Assembly published a joint statement calling upon Pakistan to do all in its power to persuade the Taliban, who are responsible for atrocities, to undertake serious peace talks, including the role of women (see EUROPE 12764/27).
By 29 July, the Taliban held 223 districts out of 407. But in Brussels the day before, the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board on Afghanistan had held a relatively uneventful meeting, as if its days in power were not numbered. It was called upon by the Ambassador of the EU to Kabul to press on with reforms (tackling corruption, managing public finances, women’s rights, etc...) (see EUROPE 12772/9).
Despite the best attempts of the Afghan president to rally his troops, the Taliban continued their relentless march and swept into Kabul on 15 August. The President conceded that they had won the war and fled. Neither the United States nor the European Union had been able to anticipate these developments. The extremely chaotic and dramatic situation at Kabul airport, where a long series of desperate emergency evacuations was getting underway, was brought to the attention of the general public mainly via their television screens. For the West, the whole thing has been a complete disaster. Despite a few demonstrations against the new regime and the continued existence of scattered pockets of resistance, their sole point of contact is now the Taliban, whom they have been fighting for 20 years.
On 17 August, the 27 Foreign Ministers held an extraordinary meeting by videoconference. They “stressed the need to ensure the safe evacuation of EU citizens and local staff” and “called for the protection of all human life and the immediate restoration of security and civil order with respect to fundamental rights”. In a statement of his own, Josep Borrell also highlighted the importance of the rights of women, children and persons belonging to minorities and announced the continuation of aid based on the needs of the Afghan people. “The EU will also support Afghanistan’s neighbours in coping with negative spillovers, which are to be expected from an increasing flow of refugees and migrants”.
Because this is actually what is really worrying the European top brass: a repeat wave of migration reaching the doorstep of the EU. We certainly already know that many, many Afghans have already fled, or are determined at all costs to flee, this regime of terror. It would, furthermore, be inhumane to send Afghans present on European soil without having secured asylum status back to their home country. Was it, then, quite by chance that the foreign ministers met for an emergency videoconference on 18 August? There are no documents available concerning the debate (but we can easily imagine the fallings-out); only Commissioner Johansson, who took part in the work, published a lengthy statement providing facts and figures and calling for assistance to the Afghan migrants, albeit in coordination with the international organisations and neighbouring countries in Asia, but also for the EU to step up its hosting capacities. On the same day, the EU and 22 other countries co-signed a joint statement on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, expressing both grave concern and determination to keep a very close eye on what the new government decides to do.
It was Spain which – no doubt by request of Josep Borrell, who knows his leaders inside out – arranged to repatriate Afghan staff of EU institutions. Last Saturday, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen travelled to the military base of Torrejon de Ardoz, near Madrid, to visit the refugee camp, express their solidarity and thank the Spanish prime minister. The President of the Commission and her counterpart from the European Council both made a speech. They took the opportunity to express their hopes of taking back control over a situation they did not see coming. Mr Michel pledged to “spend the next few hours working to try to guarantee the safe resettlement of those people who have made the decision to leave Afghanistan in view of the situation facing them”. Ms von der Leyen promised to continue financial support to humanitarian NGOs, but also member states opting to offer refugees new homes. However, she added that the ordinary support for Afghanistan’s development would be conditional on the actions of the country’s new government, particularly towards women and girls.
This is the unadulterated reality. 22 member states took part in the international coalition to wage a war at the behest of the United States following the events of 11 September 2001. They left it empty-handed. In these initial engagements, the EU did not have a lot to say. Let us hope that it has more of an influence in a post-war context that is likely to be extremely complex and will be up to the task of enforcing its values and those of the United Nations.
Renaud Denuit