US and European Union reject the Taliban government

EU terms Taliban’s failure to include different groups onto the ruling side, its reason to reject. The US however says that Taliban government will have to earn legitimacy

GERMANY – On Wednesday September 8, representatives from both the United States and European Union talked to reporters about the newly formed Taliban government. Both the representatives showed a disregard towards the newly formed Taliban government and said that they reject it.

The representatives while talking to reporters in Ramstein, Germany mentioned their reason for not accepting the Taliban government. EU representatives said that they reject it because the newly formed government does not include people from different groups. The US side came up with a rather straight response and said that if the Taliban want international legitimacy, they should earn it.

These representatives were in Germany for a 20 Nations Ministerial Meeting whose objective was to discuss about the Taliban government. While some countries were able to send representatives including some European allies and the Afghan neighbor Pakistan.

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US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken criticized the Taliban government and talked about a united front against the Taliban. Blinken in the meeting pressed the fact that any international recognition by Taliban must be earned. “The Taliban seek international legitimacy. Any legitimacy — any support — will have to be earned”, he said.

Alongside Blinken, German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas also criticized the Taliban. The two said that the government does not contain a single woman and includes a minister who is on the US arrest list. Blinken after discussing the member of the recently formed government said that the government will be judged by its actions. Replying to Blinken’s statement, Maas said that he was not optimistic.

The EU’s criticism and conditions for the Taliban government

Maas in the meeting said that they expected Taliban to uphold human rights of women and people leaving Afghanistan. He also said that they expected the Taliban to grant access to humanitarian aid.

The minister then moved onto criticize the formation and the composition of the government saying that there is no hope for Afghanistan to get better under them. “The announcement of a transitional government without the participation of other groups. Yesterday’s violence against demonstrators and journalists in Kabul, are not signals that give cause for optimism”, he said.

Maas then said that the Taliban government failed to fulfil the vows it made. He said it because the Taliban previously promised that it will create a government that includes rulers from different groups in Afghanistan. The Taliban however failed to do so and created an overnight government which mostly includes Taliban leaders.

“Upon initial analysis of the names announced. It does not look like the inclusive and representative formation in terms of the rich ethnic and religious diversity of Afghanistan we hoped to see and that the Taliban were promising over the past weeks”, added another EU representative.

The European Union then moved on to draw up 5 conditions which they need the Taliban to fulfill if they want to increase international engagement.