It is so easy to become insensitive to the images of human degradation that the civilians of Afghanistan are suffering as a result of the international political decisions that they cannot control.
Millions of Afghans fear for their future prosperity and their physical safety as they come to terms with the prospect of living under the Taliban regime, whose respect for civil liberties and human rights has, in the past, been abysmal to say the least. Two decades of gradually getting used to democratic values and rights have gone up in smoke. Afghan women and children are the most at risk.
The humanitarian crisis quickly developing in Afghanistan is approaching apocalyptic proportions. The UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, said that “there is already a very serious humanitarian situation and that could get very much worse”. There have been reports of activists in the new regime hunting down and killing their former enemies despite the Afghan leaders having promised they would respect human rights within the context of Sharia law.
The UN humanitarian aid coordination agency has said that, even before the victory of the Taliban in recent weeks, more than 18 million people needed humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan. At this critically important time, when the free world needs to do its best to preserve the Afghan people’s dignity, some worrying cracks appear in the international solidarity effort.
The EU’s inability to act as a credible protagonist on the world stage is being cruelly exposed. The Union has no real foreign policy powers as the different member states refuse to cede control of foreign policy to Brussels. This often results in eurocrats issuing statements of condemnation and threats in a situation they know they cannot control.
European Commissioner Vice President Josep Borrell admits the EU can do very little to protect Afghan citizens from human rights abuses by the Taliban regime. His comments on the crisis show how difficult it will be for the Afghan people to be saved from human degradation. Borrell says that “no payments are going on to Afghanistan right now. No payments of development assistance until we clarify the situation”.
In the meantime, millions of Afghans will try to flee across their country’s border in search of a better life, preferably in the EU.
Understandably, EU member states, especially those on its Eastern borders, fear a repeat of the massive influx of refugees as happened in 2015 at the peak of the Syrian crisis. Armin Lachet, Angela Merkel’s likely successor, argues that Germany, the most influential member state, “should not send the signal that it can take in everyone in need. The focus must be on humanitarian aid on-site”.
When millions of people risk their lives and future because of political turmoil, there is no justification for endless emergency meetings where squabbling politicians resort to petty, pointless calls to isolate the Taliban regime. Whether the EU and other Western democracies recognise the new administration in Afghanistan does not matter much to civilians facing a humanitarian disaster in this afflicted country.
The war has been won by the Taliban, who will likely control the lives of millions of people for the foreseeable future. Western democracies need to establish some form of dialogue with the new rulers to pursue a comprehensive and enduring political solution underpinned with provisions for the protection and promotion of all human rights, particularly those of women and children.