Situation in Afghanistan

01.09.2021

Following the Taliban takeover on 15 August, a new reality exists in Afghanistan, a reality that affects the EU, affects the region, international stability and has a direct impact on European security.
The future of Afghanistan remains a key issue for the EU. The EU remains firmly committed to supporting the Afghan people; we will continue to provide needs-based assistance to them, as well as providing support to Afghans at risk.
Within the EU and together with our partners, our work will also focus on, among other issues, the management of population flows from Afghanistan; the prevention of the spread of terrorism; the fight against organised crime, including drug trafficking and human trafficking.

Over the past weeks, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell has focused his activities on Afghanistan: please read his Op-ed for the New York Times on Afghanistan being a “wake-up call” for Europe here and several interviews dealing with the topic for Onda Cero (the looming humanitarian crisis), Corriere della Sera (Europe’s responsibility), RTVE (the failure of the Western world), AFP (the need for a stronger geopolitical EU), El Confidencial (the need for an EU military force) and RNE (the failure of the Western world). In addition, he gave an interview to Spanish TV channel laSexta on Europe’s need for military capacity and for El Periodico on the reality of the Taliban rule in Afghanistan, as well as an Op-ed in Le Journal du Dimanche “leçons d’un échec”.

After the Informal meetings of Defence and Foreign Ministers (2-3 September 2021), HR/VP has dedicated a new blog post to the Afghanistan crisis: https://europa.eu/!BbyBnk