London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

EU Ministers Outline Conditions for Relations with Taliban; Britain Points to 'New Reality'

EU Ministers Outline Conditions for Relations with Taliban; Britain Points to 'New Reality'

European Union officials on Friday listed a set of conditions for defining the EU’s level of engagement with the Taliban as the new rulers of Afghanistan, including respect for human rights and the rule of law.
Following the Afghan government’s collapse last month, the 27-nation bloc and its member countries have evacuated their diplomats from Afghanistan. But EU officials have said they are willing to cooperate with the Taliban now that they have returned to power.

The EU is focusing on delivering humanitarian aid, guaranteeing the safe passage out of the country of Afghan collaborators and employees who were left behind during the airlifts from Kabul, and trying to prevent a mass exodus of refugees that could prompt another migration crisis in Europe.

Following meetings with European foreign affairs ministers in Slovenia, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that to gauge the Taliban’s good will, the bloc would use several benchmarks.

They include a guarantee that Afghanistan won’t become a base for the export of terrorism to other countries," a commitment to free access for humanitarian aid deliveries, and adhering to standards in the areas of human rights, rule of law and press freedom.

What is clear is that the future of Afghanistan remains a key issue for us, Borrell said. It affects us, it affects the region, the international stability, and it has a direct impact for European security.

At the same time, the ministers strongly insisted on the idea that we remain committed to supporting the Afghan population, he said.

Borrell stressed that the EU also wants to see an inclusive transition government formed in Afghanistan and the Taliban to honor their pledge to let foreigners and those who fear for their lives leave the country.

Our engagement will depend on the fulfillment of these conditions," Borrell said.

The EU has suspended development assistance to the Afghan government but has pledged about 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) for the country for 2021-2024.

To ensure the evacuation of EU nationals and Afghan staff under the protection of member states and to assess how the Taliban respect the bloc’s conditions, Borrell said that ministers agreed to establish a joint European Union presence" in Kabul, if security conditions are met.

Foreign affairs ministers also acknowledged the need to coordinate with Afghanistan’s neighbors through an EU regional political platform of cooperation aimed at stabilizing the whole region.

This political platform will consider, among other issues, the management of population flows from Afghanistan; the prevention of the spread of terrorism; the fight against organized crime, including drug trafficking and human being smuggling," Borrell said.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Anze Logar, whose country currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said such cooperation will try to stop any future migration flows to the bloc.

Meanwhile, Britain says it will not recognise the Taliban as the new government in Kabul, but must deal with new realities in Afghanistan and does not want to see its social and economic fabric broken, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Friday.

Speaking during a visit to Pakistan, Raab said it would not have been possible to evacuate about 15,000 people from Kabul without cooperation with the Taliban, who seized the capital on Aug. 15.

“The approach we’re taking is that we don’t recognise the Taliban as a government," he said, adding that Britain normally recognized states rather than governments.

“We do see the importance of being able to engage and having a direct line of communication."

Raab’s comments reflect the balance countries such as Britain and the United States are seeking to strike in the aftermath of the Taliban’s lightning victory and the collapse of the Western-backed government in Kabul.

Western countries fear that a looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and an economic collapse could create hundreds of thousands of refugees.

But they are wary of Taliban promises that Afghanistan will not go back to the harsh fundamentalist rule exercised during their last period in power before 2001.

“The Taliban has made a series of undertakings - some of them are positive at the level of words. We need to test them and see if this translates into deeds," Raab added.

“It is important at this stage to set or to judge the Taliban by these early, initial and probably, quite modest, tests and see whether they deliver."

He said Britain had released the first tranche of a 30 million pound ($41.5 million) package of humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan’s neighbours, which may have to bear the brunt of any large exodus.

Raab added that the aid budget for Afghanistan had been increased to 286 million pounds but future payments would go through aid groups.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×