| Welcome to Global Village Space

Saturday, October 5, 2024

EU is uninterested in Afghanistan’s stability, FM Lavrov

FM Lavrov slammed EU policymakers for investing more in geopolitics rather than brainstorming on Afghanistan's stability.

Fears in Brussels that the fall of Kabul to the Taliban is a victory for Moscow and Beijing show that the EU is obsessed with playing politics and uninterested in the fate of ordinary Afghans, Russia’s foreign minister has said.

Speaking at a press conference following talks with his Hungarian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov said it was regrettable that the bloc’s officials weren’t as preoccupied with the humanitarian situation in the country.

Read More: CIA Director Burns secret meeting with Baradar at Kabul; an event tinged with irony

The top diplomat turned fire on Brussels’ foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, who claimed last week that “what we cannot do is let the Chinese and Russians take control of the situation and be supporters of Kabul, and we become irrelevant.”

The comments came as a group of senior EU parliamentarians co-signed a statement declaring that they “deeply deplore the recent political, military, and moral calamity in Afghanistan.” According to them, the bloc must now urgently develop a new strategy for the region “considering that Russia and China will quickly try to fill the political vacuum.”

Read More: Saudi Arabia signs military pact with Russia

 

However, Lavrov blasted Borrell’s focus on the geopolitics of the situation, saying that “if the head of EU foreign policy thinks in this way, I feel sorry for the member states that have to hear such a philosophy and, in principle, support it.” He went on to add that “Mr Borrell is not worried about the fact we must help the Afghans stabilize their country as soon as possible.”

“And as for this mentality that Afghanistan cannot be allowed to fall to Russia and China,” Moscow’s top envoy said, “it comes from the same place as forcing people to choose whether they are with the West or with Russia and China. It is sad if these are the people developing policy for the EU.”

While the Taliban is designated as a terrorist organization and prohibited in Russia, Moscow has hosted a delegation of its political representatives and opened bilateral ties with the group in recent weeks to facilitate a peace deal.

Read More: India to receive Russian S400s by end of 2021

Contacts with the militant group have also been made to facilitate security arrangements for the Russian embassy in Kabul which, unlike the US or UK embassies, has not been shuttered since the Islamist group took charge of the capital.

Earlier this month, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said that China was a welcome “friend” in its plans to rebuild the country, and called on Beijing to support economic development “as soon as possible.”

Read More: Pakistan and Russia not “racist” against Afghan refugees – Andrew Korybko

https://twitter.com/ASBMilitary/status/1430181134936252431

 

Via RT with additional input from GVS.