EU Envoy Says Taliban Missed Chance to Attend Geneva Donor Conference

European Union’s (EU) special envoy for Afghanistan said Tuesday the Taliban has lost the opportunity to attend the upcoming Geneva Conference because of the increased levels of violence across the country.

“The extreme high level of violence, I don’t see it is a good option to have the Taliban represented at the conference, but I think all of us reached out to them and made sure it could have been a possibility… it could have been a good opportunity to represent themselves to the world but don’t see it happening now,” said Andreas Von Brandt EU ambassador to Afghanistan.

The EU envoy said that the EU will continue to support Afghanistan but there could be a reduction in aid due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and the fight against corruption in the Afghan government.

“It is also extremely important to fight corruption to create overall awareness for the problems but also to investigate when it comes to specific cases of fraud and I have made it very clear at the EU’s anti-corruption conference at the Palace which was also televised,” said Von Brandt.

The Geneva conference is scheduled to take place at the end of this month and will see the Afghan government report back on achievements regarding the fight against corruption.

Donor countries will also pledge the amounts they are prepared to donate to Afghanistan for 2021 through to 2024.