Afghanistan Demonstrates Need for Rapid Response Team

BRUSSELS – Minister of Foreign Affairs European Union (EU), Josep Borrell says what happened in Afghanistan indicates the need for a rapid reaction force. He said this force should be formed so that the EU can better deal with crisis situations similar to Afghanistan in the future.

Speaking to the Italian newspaper Il, Corriere della Sera, Borrell said that the rapid deployment of US troops to Afghanistan at a time of deteriorating security showed that the EU needed to accelerate efforts to build a common defense policy.

“We need to take lessons from this experience as Europeans, we haven’t been able to send 6,000 troops around Kabul airport to secure the area. The US has, we haven’t,” he said.

Borrell, as reported by Reuters on Monday (30/8/2021), said the 27 EU members should have an “initial force” of 5,000 troops. “We must act quickly,” he said. Also read: Ban Music, Taliban Kill Afghan Folk Singer Fawad Andarabi

In May, 14 EU countries including Germany and France proposed such powers, possibly by ships and airplanes, to help democratic foreign governments in need of urgent assistance.

First discussed in 1999 in connection with the Kosovo war, a combined system of fighting groups was finally created in 2007 to deal with the crisis. However, the troops were not used because EU governments disagreed about how and when to deploy them. Also read: Erdogan: Turkey cannot bear the burden of Afghan refugees for the EU

Borrell said it was time to be flexible, citing a quickly made deal to tackle the financial crisis as an example of how the EU could overcome the restrictions on the deployment of military operations set out in its constitutional agreement.

(ian)

– .