BRUSSELS: The EU will only cooperate with the Taliban if they respect fundamental rights, including those of women, and prevent the use of Afghanistan’s territory by terrorists, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said on Tuesday.
Josep Borrell outlined the EU’s stance in a statement after an emergency meeting of European Union foreign ministers to discuss the Taliban’s quick seizure.
“I haven’t said that we are going to recognize the Taliban,” Borrell told a news conference. “I just said that we have to talk with them for everything, even to try to protect women and girls. Even for that, you have to get in touch with them.”
The Taliban, in their first official news briefing since the seizure of Kabul, said they wanted peaceful relations with other countries and would respect the rights of women within the framework of Islamic law.
Their announcement, short on details but suggesting a softer line than during their rule 20 years ago, was made as the United States and Western allies evacuated diplomats and civilians the day after scenes of chaos at Kabul airport as Afghans thronged the airfield.
Borrell said the EU’s priority was to evacuate EU staff and Afghan helpers from Kabul. He put the number of locals who have been working for the EU at almost 400, their families included.
Spain has offered to act as a hub to receive these people before they are sent on to EU countries that have offered them shelter, he said.
Humanitarian aid for Afghans must be maintained and even increased, but assistance will only go to the Afghan government if conditions are met, Borrell said.
Starting a dialogue soon is needed to avert a potential migratory disaster and a humanitarian crisis, he added.
“We have to get in touch with authorities in Kabul ... the Taliban have won the war, so we will have to talk to them.”
Borrell ranked the fall of Kabul to the Taliban the most important geopolitical event since the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014.
“It will have an impact on the geopolitical balance of the world,” he said, meaning the EU would have to work more closely with countries such as Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and China.
EU says it will work with Taliban only if human rights respected
https://arab.news/bwd7n
EU says it will work with Taliban only if human rights respected
- Josep Borrell outlined the EU's stance after an emergency meeting of European Union foreign ministers to discuss Taliban's quick seizure
- "I haven't said that we are going to recognise the Taliban," Borrell told a news conference
Uganda partially restores internet after president wins 7th term
- “The internet shutdown implemented two days before the elections limited access to information, freedom of association, curtailed economic activities ... it also created suspicion and mistrust on the electoral process,” the team said in their report
KAMPALA: Ugandan authorities have partially restored internet services late after 81-year-old President Yoweri Museveni won a seventh term to extend his rule into a fifth decade with a landslide victory rejected by the opposition.
Users reported being able to reconnect to the internet and some internet service providers sent out a message to customers saying the regulator had ordered them to restore services excluding social media.
“We have restored internet so that businesses that rely on internet can resume work,” David Birungi, spokesperson for Airtel Uganda, one of the country’s biggest telecom companies said. He added that the state communications regulator had ordered that social media remain shut down.
The state-run Uganda Communications Commission said it had cut off internet to curb “misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and related risks.” The opposition, however, criticized the move saying it was to cement control over the electoral process and guarantee a win for the incumbent.
The electoral body in the East African country on Saturday declared Museveni the winner of Thursday’s poll with 71.6 percent of the vote, while his rival pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine was credited with 24 percent of the vote.
A joint report from an election observer team from the African Union and other regional blocs criticized the involvement of the military in the election and the authorities’ decision to cut off internet.
“The internet shutdown implemented two days before the elections limited access to information, freedom of association, curtailed economic activities ... it also created suspicion and mistrust on the electoral process,” the team said in their report.
In power since 1986 and currently Africa’s third longest-ruling head of state, Museveni’s latest win means he will have been in power for nearly half a century when his new term ends in 2031.
He is widely thought to be preparing his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, to take over from him. Kainerugaba is currently head of the military and has expressed presidential ambitions.
Wine, who was taking on Museveni for a second time, has rejected the results of the latest vote and alleged mass fraud during the election.
Scattered opposition protests broke out late on Saturday after results were announced, according to a witness and police.
In Magere, a suburb in Kampala’s north where Wine lives, a group of youths burned tires and erected barricades in the road prompting police to respond with tear gas.
Police spokesperson Racheal Kawala said the protests had been quashed and that arrests were made but said the number of those detained would be released later.
Wine’s whereabouts were unknown early on Sunday after he said in a post on X he had escaped a raid by the military on his home. People close to him said he remained at an undisclosed location in Uganda. Wine was briefly held under house arrest following the previous election in 2021.
Wine has said hundreds of his supporters were detained during the months leading up to the vote and that others have been tortured.
Government officials have denied those allegations and say those who have been detained have violated the law and will be put through due process.
