ST. PETERBURG, September 1. /TASS/. Recognizing the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) as Afghanistan’s official government is not on Budapest’s agenda, as the developments in that country should be followed, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in an interview with TASS.
"This has not been on the agenda yet. We have to see how things are going on there," Szijjarto said when asked if Budapest was ready to acknowledge the Taliban as a new official government in Kabul.
"Obviously, things happened in a much quicker manner than they should have or than everybody would have expected. So, we have not thought about the issue of what comes after yet because we have to evacuate and take care of the people. When we have evacuated, let’s see where the developments go. First, we definitely have to address this issue within NATO and we have to speak about which way to go forward because we were there for 20 years, things have failed, went another direction," the minister added.
"So, I think it would be important to at least make an attempt to make a common NATO position on that. If we don’t succeed, then let’s see," he said.
The Taliban mounted a massive operation to regain control over Afghanistan after the United States announced the withdrawal of its military personnel from the country. On August 15, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani stepped down and fled the country, and the Taliban forces swept into Kabul, meeting no resistance. The forces opposing the Taliban rule offered resistance, which was headed by Ahmad Massoud, in Panjshir Province. Former Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who declared himself "caretaker president," urged the country to support it.
On February 14, 2003, Russia’s Supreme Court handed down a ruling declaring the Taliban to be a terrorist organization, which is outlawed in Russia.
NATO mistakes in Afghanistan
Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto added that the North Atlantic Alliance should carry out an honest analysis of what happened in Afghanistan during its military campaign there to make sure that similar mistakes are not repeated in the future.
"So, once everybody within the alliance is finished with the evacuation and once we have the time finally to look into this issue honestly without any kind of exaggeration and any kind of imbalance, we have to look into it how these things could happen in this way. And we have to draw the conclusions, of course, because we might have another mission sometimes in the future on a similar issue. Don’t commit the same mistakes as we have committed," the minister said.
Szijjarto acknowledged that NATO plans to liberate Afghanistan from terrorism and improve this country had failed. "We have been there for 20 years. We sacrificed people and sacrificed a lot of money and we are where we were 20 years ago, the Taliban is back," he added. "I hope that all parties within the alliance will be ready to make such an analysis because if you don’t make such an analysis then there will be a chance that we will commit the same kind of mistake in the future, which shouldn’t be the case."
Refugees from Afghanistan in Hungary
According to Peter Szijjarto, Hungary has no intention to participate in any distribution of refugees from Afghanistan.
"We have evacuated those who have worked together with our troops, with our military contingent in Afghanistan and we are not ready to receive anybody else. We made it very clear at the very beginning that those whose lives are in danger because of working for us, it’s obvious that it’s our moral duty, our obligation to evacuate them. And we have done that. But we are not ready to take part in any kind of system of distribution or any kind of quotas, nothing. If we did so, then we would contribute to a situation similar to 2015," he said.
The Minister noted that all statements claiming that all Afghans who want to leave must leave are very dangerous and irresponsible.
"Because if you look at the map then if the Afghans leave the first country which might stop them would be Turkey. But they are also under enormous pressure by those millions and millions of migrants who have already been on their territory. From Turkey, the Western Balkans are very close and with one step you are at the southern border of Hungary. So, we would like to avoid such kinds of situation," Szijjarto said.
On August 26, Reuters reported citing Hungarian Defense Minister Tibor Benko that Hungary finished the evacuation of its citizens and Afghans who worked for its Armed Forces. A total of 540 people were evacuated.