The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, said yesterday that the work carried out by Spain in the process of evacuating Afghans from their country after the entry of the Taliban is “an example of the values of the European Union”.
Sánchez made this statement after visiting the facilities set up at the Torrejón air base to receive the evacuated Afghans, accompanied by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell.
In his first appearance before the press since the Afghanistan crisis broke out, Sánchez defended himself against criticism from the opposition parties, who reproached him for having continued on holiday in Lanzarote, while other European leaders were appearing before the public.
Sánchez assured that his government has been aware of the situation of the crisis in Afghanistan “from the very first second” and affirmed that this country is not a foreign place to Spain. “We have been in Afghanistan for twenty years and have managed to maintain a certain peace and stability,” he said, referring to the work carried out by our armed forces in the province of Bagdhis..
For the head of the Executive, despite the fact that the Taliban have taken power, the Spanish presence in the Asian country “has not been in vain”, because “a seed has been sown”, which he hopes will “germinate in greater prosperity, security and freedom for the Afghan people”.
Sánchez considered that the work being done to get the collaborators out of Afghanistan means vindicating “the best of the EU”, the values of “unity and solidarity”.
For their part, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, congratulated Spain for its work in welcoming the refugees. “Spain has shown its solidarity and responsibility. It is an example of the soul of Europe at its best,” said von der Leyen. Charles Michel expressed his “gratitude” to the Spanish president for his initiative to offer Spain as a ‘hub’ to receive refugees, which he described as a sign of “dignity”.
Von der Leyen also indicated that there are “operational contacts” with the Taliban to facilitate evacuations from the Afghan capital, but not “political talks or recognition”. He also assured that the EU will suspend all aid funds to Afghanistan unless the Taliban respect human rights.
While European leaders praised the Spanish government’s attitude, the United States did not include Spain among the allied countries that had helped it in the evacuation of Afghanistan. In a communiqué, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, mentions up to 26 countries that in one way or another have collaborated with the United States in the process of evacuating or receiving Afghan refugees in danger, including Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Albania and Turkey.
However, hours later, Sánchez revealed on his Twitter account that he had held a “fruitful” telephone conversation with the President of the United States, Joe Biden, in which they discussed several issues of common interest, “especially the situation in Afghanistan and the collaboration between both governments in the evacuation of citizens from that country”.
In any case, the omission of the US from the list of collaborating allies led the PP to launch new criticisms of the government, although its leader, Pablo Casado, expressed his support for the government “so that the exit from Afghanistan is carried out urgently and with the best guarantees for all”. However, he insisted on asking Sánchez for public explanations and for him to “render accounts” before the Cortes.
In his appearance before the press, Sánchez implied that it will not be he who goes to Congress, but rather the ministers who have been directly involved in the operation to bring Spaniards and Afghan aid workers out of Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, yesterday two diplomats and three members of the GEO travelled to Kabul to reinforce the embassy staff -the ambassador and his deputy- and the 17 police officers from the security service who are still in the Afghan capital.
A third Spanish plane arrived last night in Torrejón with another 110 Afghans on board, who also remained in the camp set up at the air base, where they will remain for a maximum of 72 hours before being transferred to other locations. With this flight, there are now 268 Afghans evacuated directly by Spain, to which must be added those who are landing on flights chartered by the European External Action Service to be later transferred to other European countries. Another such flight landed yesterday, via Paris, carrying 36 more Afghans.
