Foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) on Friday set five conditions on which the bloc will engage in cooperation with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“We have to engage with the new government in Afghanistan, which doesn’t mean recognition, it’s an operational engagement,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said, following a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers in Slovenia.
“This operational engagement will increase depending on the behavior of this government,” Borrell stressed.
He laid out a raft of “benchmarks” that the new authorities would have to meet as the Taliban gears up to announce a new government after seizing power.
For the EU to operatively cooperate with the Taliban, Afghanistan must fulfill below five conditions, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told journalists after the end of the two-day informal meeting of EU foreign ministers:
- Afghanistan will not serve as a base for export of terrorism to other countries,
- Respect for human rights,
- Forming an inclusive government,
- Providing free access for humanitarian aid,
- Providing safe passage for foreign nationals and at-risk Afghans who want to leave the country.
“To carry out the evacuation and assess the fulfillment of the above benchmarks, we decided on coordinated action, and we will be in contact with the Taliban, also through the EU’s common presence in Kabul which will be coordinated by the External Action Service, but only if the security conditions are met,” the EU official said.
He stressed that these are not formal conclusions as the meeting is informal in nature.
Slovenia’s Foreign Minister Anze Logar, who co-hosted the meeting alongside Borrell, said the five conditions will inform all future discussions at the EU level. He said members states would not like a repeat of the migration situation in 2015 and 2016.
(With inputs from agencies)
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