EU negotiates with the Taliban: a sell-out?
The European Commission has hosted a meeting with representatives of the Taliban in Brussels for the first time. The talks focused on the deportation of Afghans from Europe and increasing the number of the Islamist group's diplomats in the EU. Human rights activists protested against the visit. Europe's press is divided.
When pragmatism becomes complicity
In El País, Afghan journalist Khadija Amin comments:
“Those who have turned an entire country into a prison for women should not be rewarded with visas, meetings and symbolic recognition. There may be those who portray this dialogue as a political necessity. But for millions of Afghan women it is a painful reminder that decisions about their lives continue to be made without their being present. And that absence is precisely the problem. Europe must not normalise the Taliban. It must not forget Afghan women. It must not allow pragmatism to turn into complicity.”
Making things too easy for the regime
The European Commission should have made more demands, argues Le Soir:
“Since returning to power on 15 August 2021, the Taliban have established a regime based on fear and regression on human rights. ... UN experts denounce a form of gender apartheid, while a humanitarian crisis is plunging millions of Afghans into deep physical and psychological suffering. ... The Taliban have secured everything they could from the resumption of this dialogue which amounts to an utterly reprehensible acquittal. This moral capitulation could at least have come at a high price or extracted major concessions in compensation: unfortunately, there is no shortage of men and women who are victims of this regime and who must urgently be rescued from its horrific prisons.”
Cooperation can save lives
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung dismisses human rights activists' criticism of the meeting with the Taliban delegation as cheap rhetoric:
“They claim that the rights of Afghan women are being sacrificed at the altar of deportation policy. Yet the fact that the Islamist rulers have been in the doghouse for five years hasn't helped Afghan women one bit. What would help women is more humanitarian aid and projects that provide them with an income. Yet European governments and private donors are giving Afghanistan a wide berth because they fear being vilified by human rights activists for any involvement in the Taliban's realm. While activists in Europe condemn every meeting with the Islamists, women and children in Afghanistan are starving.”
Pact of shame
Avvenire accuses the EU of cynicism:
“One million Afghans have sought protection in Europe. Statistically speaking, half of them will be turned away. Now each of them is anxiously wondering whether, after crossing seas and mountains and enduring hardship and deprivation, they will have to return to the country that denies its citizens freedom and rights more than any other country in the world. The driving force behind a 'technical' agreement with the Taliban is Germany, which is under pressure from the far right. But France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria and other countries also want what has been described as a 'pact of shame'. ... One which prioritises the interests of European governments over the defence of the rights and freedoms of an entire people.”