“The Taliban won the war, so we will have to talk to them.” This is how the EU Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell put it on Tuesday evening after the Union's foreign ministers had spent two hours discussing the new situation in Afghanistan via video link.

The Spaniard added that this did not mean any formal recognition of the Islamists.

But you have to talk to them for that very reason to urge them to respect the rights of girls and women.

In addition, the EU institutions themselves are still in the process of getting their Afghan aid workers to safety.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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Borrell spoke of a maximum of 400 people, including their families. Since the Taliban only let international personnel through to the airport in Kabul, exceptions have to be negotiated. The Spaniard said of the new rulers in Kabul in his usual flippant way: "They look like they used to, but they speak better English."

The European Union must now rearrange itself.

On the one hand, it is Afghanistan's most important donor and has committed funds for the next few years that even a Taliban government urgently needs - this gives the Commission and the member states influence, especially since the support is expressly linked to conditions.

On the other hand, Europe is particularly vulnerable if the Islamists' seizure of power leads to the next great exodus to the west.

This not only requires massive support for the neighboring states of Pakistan, Iran and Turkey, which have so far taken in most of the refugees, but also pragmatic cooperation with the new rulers in Kabul.

EU is the largest donor

It is already clear that the hard line that Foreign Minister Heiko Maas issued a week ago does not last. "We will not give a cent more to Afghanistan when the Taliban have completely taken over, introduce Sharia law and this country becomes a caliphate," the SPD politician said. This had been sharply criticized internally by several states, especially those through which Afghans come to Central Europe. On Tuesday, Maas positioned himself much more cautiously and said that we now have to see where humanitarian aid can be provided.

This support continues to flow to the Hindu Kush, as the foreign ministers affirmed in a joint declaration. Borrell made a distinction between emergency aid and development cooperation. Only payments for development projects have been suspended "until the situation is cleared up". On the other hand, humanitarian aid will probably even have to be increased because the country is facing a bad harvest and there will be less yield "if the Taliban prohibits women from working". For the current year, the EU Commission has budgeted $ 57 million for such short-term aid, while the majority of the funds are earmarked for medium and long-term cooperation.

At the last donor conference at the end of last year, the EU countries pledged five billion euros until 2025, of which 1.2 billion came from the community budget.

This makes the EU by far the largest donor, with a total of 12 billion euros.

In the past, these funds were not only used to build health care across the country, produce more seeds, and reintegrate people who returned from Iran and Pakistan.

The money was used to finance the entire civil security apparatus and pay thousands of government officials.

"Peaceful and inclusive agreement"

The new partnership framework of November 2020 ties further support to the fact that the Afghan government protects freedoms and fundamental rights, especially of women and minorities, takes effective action against corruption and drug trafficking and ensures that the country does not become a base for terrorists again. That was precisely what was agreed with a view to the then ongoing negotiations with the Taliban in Doha.

The EU foreign ministers have now taken up this in their joint declaration on Afghanistan.

Cooperation with an Afghan government is dependent on a "peaceful and inclusive agreement" on the future government, it says.

So it must not be in the hands of the Taliban alone, but must also involve other forces and ethnic groups.

The “fundamental rights of all Afghans, including women, children and people belonging to minorities”, must be respected.

In addition, the country must adhere to its international obligations, take action against corruption and prevent terrorists from operating from there.

That sounds "a bit like wishful thinking," Borrell admitted frankly.

But they want to use all levers to influence Kabul.