The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, affirms that Spain will participate in reinforcing dialogue with other important actors in Afghanistan in order to “maintain pressure on the Taliban to facilitate negotiations and a complete and permanent ceasefire”, and encourages “all the actors involved”.
It also urges an inclusive political solution that ensures the security and stability of the country. “Spain will actively participate in this search for solutions”, he assures in an article published yesterday in El País and picked up by Europa Press.
Sánchez defends the work carried out by the EU and Spain in the country and assures that the European Union has acted with “speed, urgency and efficiency”. “It has successfully carried out the evacuation of its citizens and of those people (and their families) who had worked for its institutions, demonstrating that it responds and that it does not abandon its collaborators”, he affirms.
In this way, he said, Spain and the EU had once again “set an example to the world” of how to react to a global challenge, demonstrating values such as solidarity, collaboration, negotiation and concerted action. And Spanish society has been proud to be at the forefront of the response to this call for help,” he stressed. We have put all the means at our disposal, we have reacted in a coordinated and humanitarian manner and we have arrived in time”.
He also recalls that Spain has been “the most important centre of operations for the EU and a key partner for the US in relation to repatriations”. “We can and should be proud of our country”, he writes. He adds: “We have accomplished one mission, but it will not be the last. There is much work ahead in the coming months, in the coming years. Spain will not leave the Afghan people alone”.
Thus, according to the President of the Government, it has been demonstrated that the EU is not and will not be a “passive actor”, nor will Spain, which must now be “one of the essential pillars of the Union’s action”. And he urged that the “Kabul effect” should crystallise into a strengthening of multilateralism based on the values of the United Nations Charter.
In any case, Sánchez affirms that this crisis is a reminder of how “urgent” it is to reach an agreement on migration in the European Union and, to this end, funding is a “key tool” for the commitment of its partners.
Sánchez, on the other hand, recognises that what has happened in Afghanistan has been a “defeat” for all those who believe in the progress of humanity. However, he assures that “this is not the time to look for those to blame” and that the priority now is “to work together for the stability of the country and the region and for the protection of the rights of the Afghan population, in particular women and girls”.
The head of the Executive ends his speech by urging Afghan society to continue on its path towards democracy, and stresses that the international community, which in his opinion must “speak with one voice”, must use all the means at its disposal to help make this happen.
