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The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will give a statement on the humanitarian situation in the country this afternoon ahead of a vote on Thursday. But Manfred Weber, the head of the centre-right group in the European Parliament said the bloc should accelerate efforts to build up its own military capacity in the wake of the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban.<\/p>\n
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The European People’s Party MEP added: “Step by step, we need to build European capacities, such as a European reaction force with a few thousand men.”But Eurocrats said the vote will be on the humanitarian element of the Afghanistan crisis and the urgent need to continue evacuations.<\/p>\n
Speaking ahead of the debate, Mr Borrell added: “In any case, we need an assessment report on the role of the European Union (EU) in Afghanistan and the dysfunctions that may have occurred over the past twenty years.<\/p>\n
“I proposed it to my colleagues in the Council, in particular, to determine the reasons for the collapse of this Afghan army, which failed to defend its country against the Taliban.<\/p>\n
”The Eurocrat has previously branded developments in Afghanistan “a catastrophe” and said there had been a failure of intelligence to anticipate the Taliban’s rapid return to power.<\/p>\n
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Mr Borrell said Europe had a “moral duty” to rescue as many Afghans as possible who had worked for the EU in Afghanistan, but said it would not be possible to get them all out.<\/p>\n
Speaking earlier this month, he added: “Let me speak clearly and bluntly, this is a catastrophe.”It is a catastrophe for the Afghan people, for the Western values and credibility, and for the developing of international relations.”<\/p>\n
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