Spanish foreign minister says won’t impose conditions on Taliban

Islamabad, Sep 10 (EFE).- Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares on Friday said during a visit to Islamabad that Spain aims to offer humanitarian assistance and evacuate its associates from Afghanistan without imposing conditions on the Taliban regime.

“The Spanish government’s objective is to provide stability to Afghanistan, ensure that the population receives humanitarian aid if needed (…) and human rights are respected,” Albares said.

The minister said that a way had to be found to evacuate the Afghans who had collaborated with Spain during the latter’s presence in the country, as not all of them had been flown out, and Pakistan could play a key role in evacuating them through the land route.

Regarding the international community’s pressure on the Taliban, which seized the country a month ago, Albares said that currently Madrid was not seeking to impose conditions and sought to focus on humanitarian aid.

He said the priority was to “establish a framework for contact and being able to work to provide humanitarian assistance and getting our collaborators out” of the country.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the reality had changed with the Taliban coming to power.”

The world must recognize that new reality and in our view engage with it,” he said.

He said that for Pakistan, which has had a historic influence over Taliban, “the best way forward is international engagement as opposed to international isolation.”

“Isolation will have consequences that we do not want. They will not be helpful for Afghanistan, they will not be helpful for the region and not be helpful to you (Spain). We have got to adopt a new approach,” Qureshi told journalists.

Albares said the situation of women, human rights and freedom of movement of Spain’s associates in Afghanistan were important issues for Madrid.