The return of the Taliban rule in Afghanistan "shows the failure of the global community and of the West's and particularly the US' geostrategic model of military interventions," SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras said on Monday in a Facebook post.
"Instead of the EU remaining voiceless and sitting on the fence," he said, it should call an emergency meeting of the European Council for a comprehensive approach to deal with the crisis in Afghanistan. A strong regional initiative by the UN even at this point with Security Council and neighboring countries would "set strict diplomatic and economic terms to the new regime in Afghanistan, especially in terms of human rights, and particularly of women and children."
Tsipras said that the Greek government, "instead of joining Austria and Denmark in calling on the EU to continue the return of Afghanis to their homeland," as it did 10 days ago, should insist on an emergency meeting of the Council. The meeting's focus should be on "how to handle the inevitable new refugee flows that Greece - or other front-line countries -ought not to shoulder alone, once again."