With the irresponsible withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan and the resulting crisis, Europeans are increasingly beating the drum of strategic independence and separatism from US intellectual and political policy.
The French newspaper Le Pen wrote: The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, in the presence of a group of members of the European Parliament at the Elysee Palace, stressed the need to “strengthen the strategic independence” of the European Union in the light of the Afghan crisis.
Gerard Aroud, the former French ambassador to the United States, also wrote on his Twitter account: Europe Wake up, the nurse (America) is no longer bored of having children.
According to Reuters, “Charles Michel”, President of the Council of Europe, also said: Given the developments in Afghanistan, the European Union must be able to act independently of the United States.
EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell attended a meeting of EU defense ministers last week to discuss the urgent withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and what to learn from it. He told reporters after the meeting that the events in Afghanistan showed above all that European troops must become independent.
In his opinion, if Europe had such a force, it could have acted independently and better in the exit operation from Kabul airport.
However, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned that the proposal to form an EU army would further deplete the continent’s scarce financial and military resources and lead to the separation of European countries.
The Afghan crisis and Europe’s claim to independence from the United States
According to euronews, the European Union appears to be nearing the end of the Covid-19 epidemic, but geopolitical challenges, such as the aftermath of the crisis in Afghanistan, reveal discrepancies and a set of fundamental problems for which there is no clear solution.
EU member states do not have a single voice in accepting Afghan refugees. The non-adoption of a common position by the EU member states in the light of the experience of migration waves in the past years and now the new wave of migration of Afghans fears another choice, this time within the EU.
Politicization in Brussels is nothing new, and Europeans are well aware of this. Lack of unity, a painful process that takes place after every decision, means that the problems of the European Union are often addressed thematically. Neil Richmond, Ireland’s former representative to the European Parliament, said: “Many people working at EU level are obsessed with how the EU works. We have been discussing the future of Europe and its position on the world stage for years.
We all want a strong Europe that is active in promoting a united liberal values ​​and a global leadership in areas such as climate change and geopolitics. “But if these inter-organizational conflicts continue, such goals will not be achieved.”
The 20-year war in Afghanistan, which is considered to be the longest US war abroad, cost the United States a total of $ 2,313 billion and killed about 2,500 people.