During the airlift from Kabul, there was a lot of discussion in Brussels about Afghanistan: demands on the Taliban, aid for states in the region, places for local staff. But when asked why Europe cannot secure the airport in Kabul itself, even after the Americans left, officials only shook their heads: excluded. But why actually? This debate has now broken out. "The fact that the rich countries of Europe are not even able to militarily secure an airport like the one in Kabul until a humanitarian evacuation has been completed is simply unacceptable," says Reinhard Bütikofer, the Green MEP. The CDU member of the Bundestag Katja Leikert says: “Being able to secure an airport the size of a small town in the future must be in our self-interest.Alone, so that people in Washington take us seriously. "

Thomas Gutschker

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

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This is aimed first at the EU defense ministers. They met on Thursday for an informal council near Ljubljana. Actually, at such meetings, medium and long-term topics are talked about in a relaxed manner. That was not possible this time, everyone was aware of the Afghanistan disaster - and what it means for Europe to ensure its own security. "The sober truth about Afghanistan is: We Europeans hardly resisted the US decision to withdraw because we couldn't afford one due to lack of our own capabilities," wrote the German department head Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on Twitter from the meeting - a remarkable admission. The EU foreign policy representative Josep Borrell, also responsible for defense, put it this way: “I think it has never been as obvious as it is today,that we need more European defense after the events in Afghanistan. "

Borrell calls for an emergency force of 5000 men

But what does that mean in concrete terms? Borrell had made it clear in a guest contribution for the "New York Times" where he wants to steer the debate. He recalled a proposal that the ministers had already discussed in May: an "initial entry force", ie an intervention force of around 5,000 men that is "fast and robust". "Helping to secure an airport in challenging circumstances could be the type of mission we undertake in the future," wrote Borrell. Fourteen countries had campaigned for this in a discussion paper on which the FAZ reported exclusively, the initiative had come from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium, along with smaller countries, had joined. The eastern states were absent, with the exception of the Slovenes and Czechs.There were all sorts of reservations and - as always - concerns that Europe might decouple from NATO.

The German side said in the summer that they were working hard to build trust, especially with Poland and the Baltic states. Because, of course, from the Berlin perspective, the proposal was not meant to compete with NATO, but rather to strengthen the European pillar in NATO. It was pointed out that the French defense minister was now also talking about “complementarity” with the alliance. But was that enough to overcome deep-seated reservations? On Thursday the defense ministers of these countries declined to comment publicly on Borrell's new initiative for a reaction force.