Afghanistan shows deficiency in EU's strategic autonomy comes with price: top diplomat

The High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks at a press briefing after the EU foreign ministers' video conference on the Middle East situation at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, May 18, 2021. (European Union/Handout via Xinhua)

"Everybody has been insisting on the need to draw lessons and understand why our efforts to build a modern state in Afghanistan have not led to a sustainable result," Borrell said.

BRUSSELS, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) should combine its forces and strengthen, including capacity and will to act to improve its strategic autonomy, as lessons should be drawn from Afghanistan, the bloc's top diplomat warned on Thursday.

"Afghanistan has shown that the deficiency in our strategic autonomy comes with a price," the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told journalists after an informal meeting of EU defense ministers in Slovenia.

"The only way forward is to combine our forces and strengthen not only our capacity but also our will to act," he said.

Borrell said that this means raising the level of readiness through joint military training and exercising, establishing new tools like the "first entry force" of 5,000 troops that will be presented at the November defense council of minister.

Photo taken on Aug. 31, 2021 shows a military plane at Kabul airport in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

The European Union (EU) has evacuated 17,500 people from Afghanistan, including 520 EU staff and their family members, Borrell noted.

"Everybody has been insisting on the need to draw lessons and understand why our efforts to build a modern state in Afghanistan have not led to a sustainable result," Borrell said.

"This is not the moment to disengage; on the contrary, we have to increase our engagement to continue supporting Afghan people, especially those who wanted to leave but were unable to do so."

Photo taken on Aug. 31, 2021 shows military vehicles at Kabul airport in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan.(Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

Following the United States' hasty military withdrawal from Afghanistan and its refusal to extend the withdrawal deadline of Aug. 31, its European allies felt dazed and betrayed as they were scrambling to depart the war-torn country with their own meagre resources.

Without U.S. military support, the Europeans would not be able to evacuate their own personnel and local Afghan forces from Kabul, said Senior Policy Fellow Jana Puglierin at the European Council of Foreign Relations.

Concerns were also surging over a possible flood of Afghan refugees into Europe after the U.S. military withdrawal, casting doubt over Europe's long-standing strategic dependence on the United States.