Macron told to call emergency European council with ‘security of the world’ in danger

Afghanistan: Pundit hits out at Joe Biden's handling of crisis

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The French President is being urged to lead the EU head of states in an emergency meeting to discuss Afghanistan’s ongoing war. The Taliban marched into Kabul on Sunday, taking the presidential palace with little resistance while President Ashraf Ghani was forced to flee. Last week, the EU threatened the Taliban with “isolation” if they attempted to seize power by force.

But the move came a little too late for some in the EU.

With almost all the Afghan territories taken by the Taliban since NATO’s troops retreat, leaders in France are urging slow EU to act fast.

President of the Hauts-de-France Region Xavier Bertrand argued France must take the diplomatic initiative to act as soon as possible in the hope more civilians can be saved from the new Islamist regime.

The Les Republicains’ presidential candidate said: “Afghanistan is on the way to fall under the barbaric power of the Taliban. A failure of the international community coupled with a new terrorist threat.

“The fight against fundamentalist Islam is the war of our generation.

“Western heads of state should have obtained an orderly and gradual withdrawal from the United States.

“They are now due to meet to discuss strategic and security options for the region.

“France must take the diplomatic initiative.

“Finally, the Afghan crisis will continue in the form of a new wave of migration in Europe. We must work on this now with the transit countries and in coordination with all the EU Member States. I ask for the convening of a European council as a matter of urgency.”

National Rally leader Marine Le Pen also lambasted Brussels’ sluggish response to the crisis.

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She warned the Taliban will install a caliphate in Afghanistan that will put the safety of western countries at serious risk.

She blasted: “While these technocrats debate the sex of angels and utter their derisory threats, Islamism advances, strengthens and will install a caliphate in Afghanistan, putting our peoples and the security of the world in serious danger.

“As always, the EU is behind on everything.”

European President David Sassoli also called for a “united EU response”.

He said: “The situation unfolding in #Afghanistan requires a united EU response.

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“The country needs a lasting and inclusive political solution that protects the rights of women and allows Afghans to live in safety and with dignity.

“Asylum must be granted to those in danger of persecution.”

Triumphal fighters were pictured in the presidential palace abandoned by President Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country while his forces gave up the city without a fight.

The Taliban insisted that they were seeking a peaceful takeover of power and were prepared to offer an amnesty to those who had worked with the Afghan government or with foreign governments.

However, those assurances were being treated with deep scepticism by many in Europe amid reports of threats to those who remain and their families.

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, a former captain in the British Army and chairman of the Defence Select Committee, criticised the West for pulling out of the country.

Appearing on Sky News, he said: “The world is now a little bit more dangerous because they’ve now taken control of the country, and the West should really hang its head in shame after abruptly abandoning Afghanistan to a civil war after two decades of effort.”

Following a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergencies committee on Sunday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his priority was to get UK nationals and Afghans who had worked with them out of the country “as fast as we can”.

Around 4,000 British nationals and eligible Afghans are thought to be in the city and in need of evacuation.

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