European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the Islamic militants who seized Kabul must first meet the EU's five conditions for longer-term aid.PHOTO: REUTERS |
The EU on Tuesday pledged a one-billion-euro ($1.2-billion) aid package for Afghanistan, “to avert a major humanitarian and socio-economic collapse,” the bloc’s chief Ursula von der Leyen said.
The money adds 250 million euros to a 300-million-euro sum
the EU previously announced for urgent humanitarian needs, with the remainder
going to Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries taking in Afghans fleeing Taliban
rule, a statement said.
Von der Leyen made the pledge at a virtual G20 summit hosted
by Italy dedicated to discussing the humanitarian and security situation in
Afghanistan.
Her statement stressed that the EU funds are “direct
support” for Afghans and would be channelled to international organisations
working on the ground, not to the Taliban’s interim government which Brussels
does not recognise.
EU development aid — different from humanitarian aid —
remains frozen.
“We must do all we can to avert a major humanitarian and
socio-economic collapse in Afghanistan. We need to do it fast,” von der Leyen
said, observing that winter was approaching.
“We have been clear about our conditions for any engagement
with the Afghan authorities, including on the respect of human rights. So far,
the reports speak for themselves. But the Afghan people should not pay the
price of the Taliban’s actions,” she said.
EU countries are wary at the prospect of a surge of Afghan
asylum-seekers trying to enter the bloc, as happened in 2015 with Syrians
fleeing their war.
Brussels’ calculation is that donating money to help
stabilise Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and help out countries between it and
Europe could stem any flow.
Von der Leyen has said EU countries — especially those that
participated in the NATO mission that hastily decamped in August as the Taliban
swept to power — have a “moral duty” to help Afghans.
The one-billion-euro aid package announced will boost
spending in health in Afghanistan. In the neighbouring countries it will go to
help with migration management and promote cooperation in fighting terrorism,
crime and migrant smuggling.
AFP
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