The European Union must not allow Russia and China to control the situation in Afghanistan, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Borelly said at a meeting of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Development Committee on Thursday, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported Thursday. Earlier, other members of the committee expressed similar positions, saying that China and Russia “will work to fill the political vacuum in Afghanistan quickly”.
In response to a reporter’s question after a special meeting of EU foreign ministers on the 17th, Borelly listed the countries the EU should work with on Afghanistan: in addition to the United States and Central Asian countries, russia and China. “We have to be consistent with the major countries, especially Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, China and Russia,” Borelly said at the time. We should expand our interaction with these countries. ”
Mr. Borelli’s latest comments have puzzled Russian officials. Konstantin Kosachev, deputy speaker of the Russian Federation Council, said, “This statement is based on an absolutely outdated logic of dividing the world into spheres of influence and upholding certain exclusive rights of the West to control the situation in a country that has nothing to do with the West.” He stressed that “the efforts of all parties concerned should now focus on promoting a solution to the Afghan problem and to resolving humanitarian, economic and political issues.” I believe that there are no limits to international cooperation in this regard, unless it is artificially imposed by people like Borelli. ”
Russian media pointed out that, unlike the West, Russia and China have established more or less relations with the Taliban. While the West moved its diplomatic missions to the airport and hastily evacuated staff, China and Russia announced their intention to keep diplomats in Kabul (now the Russian embassy is under Taliban protection). Analysts said it was not clear that the West was targeting Russia and China in this way, not to retain at least some influence in Afghanistan.
“Whatever Borelly says, the West’s role in Afghanistan will diminish,” said Andrey Kortunov, director of russia’s Council for International Affairs. When you deploy troops there, it’s one thing to control the political establishment, and it’s another to leave when you’re leaving, and it’s to leave in extreme chaos and poor planning. I think many European countries would be happy if Russia and China or other countries, Pakistan or Iran, could control the situation in Afghanistan, ensure stability there and cut off possible refugee flows. ”
Kortunov believes it will now be up to the Eurasian countries to play a major role in the region’s affairs – China is the most economically powerful country, and Pakistan has close political ties to the Taliban, as well as to Russia, Iran and Central Asian countries.
Responding to Mr Boleyn’s new statement, Waldmar Gert, a bundestag member of the Alternative for Germany (Ap?a) party, said the EU should be happy if China and Russia were to take control of the situation in Afghanistan, rather than loudly announcing a new strategy. “The Western world has played an unenviable role in Afghanistan’s fate, ” he said. This is reflected in how they shamelessly fled Afghanistan, leaving their supporters to die and leaving military equipment to the Taliban. ”
“The EU should sit quietly and remain silent, rather than loudly announcing a new strategy,” he said. Moreover, the EU should be pleased if certain countries, including Russia and China, were able to control the situation in Afghanistan. Europe and the United States have spent billions of dollars in Afghanistan over the past two decades. The money could have turned the country into a garden of flowers, but in reality it turned into hell, especially for those who still stay and believe in Western values. So Bolelli made such a statement in an attempt to dress up as a good man in a bad game. ”
“One of the reasons for such a loud slogan is the fear that its sphere of influence in the Middle East will fall entirely under the control of Russia and China, ” says Mr Gert. This is the fear that only last century. The European approach can be likened to trying to ride a dead horse. But it is time for the West to accept the fact that they have lost their previous influence in the Middle East. Moreover, the situation in Afghanistan has become a symbol of the collapse of democratic ideological practices. You can’t export democracy to countries that aren’t ready or want it. You need to understand the customs and traditions of these countries and the people who live there. Military boots cannot establish a new order. I hope that the Western countries will stop imposing this idea. ”
