WRITTEN QUESTION P-2815/01

by Giuseppe Di Lello Finuoli (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(3 October 2001)

Subject: Afghanistan

A US military attack on Afghanistan, the Taliban and Bin Laden in response to the criminal terrorist attack of 11 September in New York and Washington is imminent and is considered to be unavoidable.

This is causing a million and a half Afghans to flee from their country to neighbouring countries. These countries have already taken in a million other people, all of them desperate and innocent victims, first of the Russian military intervention, then of Taliban fundamentalism and now of American reprisals.

American bombings, however precisely targeted, will mainly hit the defenceless Afghan people (who do not have the same shelters or means of defence as Bin Laden and his Taliban protectors) and will only cause civilian casualties.

The European Union should not try to ease its conscience by simply providing humanitarian aid, the promise of which in the present circumstances, actually seems like a tacit endorsement of the bombings.

Reiterating our condemnation of all forms of terrorism and our determination to ensure that the life and dignity of every single human being are respected in accordance with the recently adopted Charter of Fundamental Rights of European citizens we would ask the Council to state what concrete action it intends to take with respect to the following:

- preventing the bombing of helpless Afghan civilians,

- ensuring that not only Pakistan, but also all the other neighbouring countries, open their borders to ease the flow of Afghan refugees,

- providing these countries and the refugees with as much financial, food and medical assistance as possible.

Reply

(14 February 2002)

The Honourable MEP is certainly aware of the recent Council conclusions and statements regarding the situation in Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism. The European Council, at its meeting in Gent, reaffirmed its staunchest support for the military operations which began on 7 October and which are legitimate under the terms of the UN Charter and of Resolution 1 368 of the UN Security Council. The Council noted that these targeted actions were in accordance with the conclusions of the Extraordinary European Council meeting on 21.09.2001, and that partners would continue to do everything in their power to shield civilian population groups.

The European Council also confirmed that humanitarian aid for Afghanistan and the neighbouring countries remained an absolute priority for the EU. The Community and Member States will make available, together with other donors, all the humanitarian aid necessary to cover the needs of the Afghan population and Afghan refugees. As of late October, the total amount of EU humanitarian aid for Afghanistan for the year 2001 amounts to some 330 million, which makes the EU one of the most important donors to the region. (EC: ECHO more than 50 million, food aid 28 million, aid to uprooted people 22,5 million; Member States: pledges and commitments to NGOs and UN agencies of some 230 million.)

Finally, the European Council concluded that the EU would embark, together with the international community and once a stable, legitimate and representative government had emerged in Afghanistan, on a far-reaching and ambitious programme of political and humanitarian aid for the reconstruction of Afghanistan with a view to stabilising the region.