Meanwhile, the United States forces left Afghanistan on Tuesday morning, marking the end of a chaotic and messy exit from America’s longest war…reports Asian Lite News.
The European Union is in no hurry to recognise the Taliban nor to establishing official relations with the group, said Gunnar Wiegand, the European Commission’s managing director for Asia and the Pacific on Wednesday.
“We need to communicate with the Taliban, we need to influence the Taliban, we need to make use of the leverages that we have but we will not rush into recognizing this new formation nor to establishing official relations,” Sputnik quoted Wiegand as saying at a joint session of the European Parliament’s committees with the delegation for relations with Afghanistan.
Earlier, Wiegand said the EU mission in Afghanistan has evacuated 520 members and Afghan support staff, including family members, from Kabul.
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He further stated that the EU mission in Afghanistan would continue its work in Brussels. They will return to Afghanistan when the situation permits, Sputnik reported.
Meanwhile, the United States forces left Afghanistan on Tuesday morning, marking the end of a chaotic and messy exit from America’s longest war.
Earlier today, US Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin III said that the United States has evacuated about 6,000 American citizens and a total of more than 124,000 civilians from Afghnaistan.
Austin also honours those who died over the course of the war in Afghanistan. “Our forces risked their own lives to save the lives of others, and 13 of our very best, paid the ultimate price,” he said.
‘Humanitarian situation to turn catastrophe’
The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan may turn into a catastrophe since the Taliban have no access to the funds provided to the country by the international community, Sputnik reported citing Gunnar Wiegand as saying on Wednesday.
“The humanitarian situation has already been very bad in Afghanistan before all these events. It risks turning catastrophic soon … Now access to financial means, the funds which the international community made available, which covered 77% of the budget of the Afghan government, civilian budget, military budget 100%, are now not available,” Wiegand said.
Wiegand said this will hit the population hard and have to find ways to mitigate and avoid a major humanitarian disaster.
“This will hit the population hard and will influence the Taliban’s ability to run the country. We have to find ways to mitigate and avoid a major humanitarian disaster … we need to address the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan to avoid a migration crisis,” the senior EEAS official said.
Earlier on Tuesday (local time), United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan as the last US troops left the country.
Guterres expressed grave concern at what he said was the “deepening humanitarian and economic crisis” in Afghanistan as the country entered what he called “a new phase.”
Meanwhile, there are nearly 10 million children in Afghanistan “in desperate need of humanitarian aid”, said UNICEF Afghanistan Representative, Herve Ludovic De Lys, adding that these children are deprived of their right to a healthy and protected childhood.
700mn for neighbouring countries
The EU is considering a 600 million euro (USD 709 million) assistance package for countries neighbouring Afghanistan to head off a refugee crisis after militants took over the country, Financial Times reported, citing unnamed officials.
The aid is meant to prevent a scenario like the Syrian migration crisis of 2015 when record numbers of asylum seekers made their way to Europe, the newspaper said on Tuesday.
The package would help Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran, and other regional neighbours in hosting those fleeing Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, EU home affairs ministers held an emergency meeting in Brussels to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, where they agreed to boost funding for UN agencies and other international organizations engaged in humanitarian activities throughout Afghanistan. In addition, they agreed to increase aid for Afghanistan’s neighbours. (ANI/Sputnik)
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