EU Foreign Ministers Discuss Afghanistan Crisis

As the Afghanistan crisis unfolds, member states and the EU executive in Brussels are trying to pull their foreign and Afghan staff out of Kabul amid fears of reprisals after the Taliban’s takeover, Euractiv.com reports.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the return of the Taliban to power as “particularly dramatic and terrible.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said that Afghanistan should not become again the “sanctuary of terrorism” that it was until the US-led invasion two decades ago, after the Taliban regained control of the country. “This is key for international security and peace … we will do everything for Russia, the United States and Europe to cooperate efficiently as our interests are the same,” Macron said in a televised address from his summer residence.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said: “Afghanistan stands at a crossroad. Security and wellbeing of its citizens, as well as international security are at play.”