Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-05-Speech-4-121"
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"en.20001005.8.4-121"2
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"Is Afghanistan condemned to sink back into the dark ages and suffocate slowly under the Taliban yoke, in the image of its women under the weight of the obligatory
? How many more deaths and displaced persons do there have to be to pierce the veil of our political indifference? How many more tons of drugs injected into the veins of young people worldwide must we deplore? Must we wait until state terrorism is fully established, wait for the victory of Jihad, the application of the expansionist will of religious fanatics to the whole region, before we Members of the European Union finally agree to get involved, as is our duty?
The long offensive carried on by the Taliban, with quite open support from Pakistan, is now cutting off the peoples of the Northern Alliance from a supply route essential to their survival. The international community can no longer content itself with burying its head in the sand, and conducting ‘wait-and-see’ diplomacy. I think I speak for many people here when I declare our rejection of a comfortable neutrality, making a theory out of passivity and justifying blindness.
We protest at the sort of neutrality that tends to put the protagonists on the same level, stacking the daily atrocities of the Taliban regime on the same shelf as the armed resistance of Commander Massoud. Massoud is seen as a war leader, but how could it be otherwise after so many battles? But for those who know him and have seen him at work, he is also a man of dialogue and unification. He sees himself as the champion of a tolerant Islam. He can be a man of peace. Massoud insists that there is no military solution to the Afghan problem. He is right. We must act urgently to find political solutions which respect the values underpinning our Union.
That is the thrust of the resolution drafted by all the groups, which I have the honour of defending here. Essentially it calls on the Council Presidency to bring its influence to bear to put an end to foreign interference in that country. It calls on the Commission to take stock of the humanitarian aid measures intended for the Afghan population so that this aid reaches everyone. Finally it insists, and this is the essential point, that the European Union coordinate its initiatives with those of neighbouring countries to impose a solution whereby peace, stability, and respect for international law and the most elementary human rights can be re-established.
We are well aware that this will not be an easy task, but here I would like to quote the motto of a great European, William of Orange: “Hope is not necessary to engagement, nor success to perseverance.”"@en1
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