Macron has called for the establishment of a “safe zone” in Kabul

Posted: 29/08/2021 – 00:52Last Updated: 29/08/2021 – 00:51

Paris (AFP)

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that his country and Britain would urge the United Nations to establish a “safe zone” in the Afghan capital, Kabul, to protect humanitarian operations.

“This is very important. It will provide a framework for the United Nations to act in an emergency,” Macron told the Le Journal du Dimanche.

He pointed out that such a safe area would, above all, allow the international community to “continue to put pressure on the Taliban, who are now in power in Afghanistan.”

Five permanent members of the UN Security Council – France, Britain, the United States, Russia and China – will discuss the situation in Afghanistan on Monday.

Macron said Paris and London would seize the opportunity to present a draft resolution aimed at defining a “safe zone” under the control of the United Nations that would allow humanitarian action to continue.

Macron’s statements come at a time when international efforts to convert foreigners and internationals seeking to leave Afghanistan are coming to an end.

France completed its expulsion operations on Friday, while the United Kingdom completed its efforts on Saturday.

On the contrary, US forces are operating in dangerous and chaotic conditions to complete massive evacuations from Kabul airport by the August 31 deadline.

Macron announced during a regional conference in Baghdad on Saturday that he would begin “talks” with the Taliban aimed at “protecting” endangered Afghanistan and “evacuating” after August 31.

He explained to reporters in Iraq that the evacuations were being prepared in collaboration with Qatar, which could “arrange air traffic operations” in the context of talks with the Taliban.

France made the announcement on Saturday, two days after the capture of 142 French and 17 Europeans from Afghanistan and from Afghanistan to Afghanistan and Afghanistan to Afghanistan from Afghanistan to Afghanistan.

The evacuations were carried out by about “15 planes” from the United Arab Emirates, the day after the completion of the airlift operations established by Paris, Macron said.

Macron told a French newspaper on Saturday that he planned to make specific transfers in the future that “did not happen at the military airport in Kabul.”

On the other hand, the French president criticized the controversy in his country for raising “fears” about the arrival of Afghan refugees in France.

“Our role is not to create fear among our citizens, but to provide them with solutions,” he said, adding that “with the aim of managing immigration pressures” with humanity, determination and the ability to defend our borders as needed.

21 2021 AFP