Europe needs to increase its terrorism alert level: Johansson

Europe must take the security threats that might arise from migration out of Afghanistan more seriously, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson warned on Friday.

“On the terrorist threat from Afghanistan, I must say that my assessment is that the alert level is not high enough. We really need to do (more),” she told reporters after a meeting with her EU counterparts in Luxembourg.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) takeover of Kabul in August brought fears in Europe of a replay of 2015, when nearly 1 million asylum-seekers, mostly Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans, fled to Europe by crossing from Turkey to Greece.

At the moment, the EU does not see big movements of Afghans towards its borders and the world has a moral responsibility to protect Afghans at risk, Johansson said.
Nevertheless, she urged member states to properly perform checks on people arriving from Afghanistan.

She cited a number of reasons that might cause Afghans to flee their home country.

“The situation in Afghanistan is really dire, there is a huge risk of economic collapse, there is huge risk of famine and humanitarian catastrophe,” Johansson said, adding that even before the takeover of the IEA, millions of Afghan refugees had been living in Pakistan, Iran and Turkey.

Half a million people have been displaced within Afghanistan in recent months, according to the United Nations.