Taliban in Brussels: an insult to the European project
BarcelonaThe anti-immigration agenda has been gaining ground in Europe for some time. Less than a week ago, far-right MEPs greeted the approval of a law to speed up the expulsion of immigrants and the construction of centres in third countries to host deportees with applause and shouts of "Send them back!" ("Send them back", in English). And this Tuesday, high-ranking European officials have received in Brussels none other than a delegation of the Taliban from Afghanistan with the idea of exploring the possibility that refugees from this country who are in Europe can be returned in the future.
The meeting takes place amidst great secrecy (there are no images) and under exceptional conditions: the Taliban delegates only have permission to stay one night in Brussels and cannot go to any other EU country. The worst part is that this meeting is a request from several countries, including Germany, which want to speed up the repatriation of refugees to Afghanistan.
What is the problem? Well, because in Afghanistan basic human rights – especially those of women – are not respected, and it is a country where opponents are executed and the population is forced to live under a strict Islamic regime. In fact, the European Union does not recognize the Taliban government and maintains sanctions against both the country itself and some of its leaders, accused of crimes against humanity. Considering the possibility of deporting people to a country where, for example, girls cannot study after a certain age, is not only a violation of the United Nations Charter, but an insult to the European project and the values of its founding fathers.
One thing is to discuss border control or immigration flow regulation, and another is to send people to live in hell, endangering their lives. Since after the Second World War, Europe has welcomed refugees from all over the world. Spanish and Catalan Republicans, Chileans fleeing Pinochet's dictatorship, and Iranians persecuted by the ayatollahs' regime, as recently narrated by the recently deceased Marjane Satrapi. And this was one of our signs of identity, one of our moral flags.
At ARA, we wanted to explain the Afghan reality through the eyes of journalist Madina Ayar (a false name so as not to be discovered by the Taliban), who with her articles portrays the harsh reality that the Afghan population, especially women, has to face. With these articles, Ayar wants to unmask the Taliban's efforts to be recognized as valid and homologable interlocutors. They are not in any way, and Europe should not recognize them or deal with them, just as was done with the South African regime during Apartheid. Because, of course, if no one would consider sending refugees to a country that discriminated based on skin color, how is it possible to accept it in the case of a regime that condemns half the population to ostracism, which is women?
That is why Europe and its states must rectify this shameful approach to a regime of religious fanatics, chauvinists, and misogynists. Not doing so would be to betray the very idea of Europe.
