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The Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, has criticized the Biden administration for having taken the unilateral decision to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, which in his opinion should have been agreed with its NATO allies.
“We must have clear talks with the United States that they cannot take unilateral decisions,” De Croo told the Flemish public broadcaster VRT.
De Croo reproached that after NATO countries went together to Afghanistan 20 years ago, in support of the United States to fight Al Qaeda terrorists, a joint decision was not taken to end the mission there “in order not to face faits accomplis,” which “has happened in the last few months.”
NATO members, including Belgium, also decided to leave Afghanistan following the U.S. decision, considering it unfeasible to remain there without the security provided by the U.S. Army.
Regarding the chaos at Kabul airport for Western countries to manage to evacuate their citizens and Afghan collaborators who have worked with them in recent years, as well as their families, De Croo regretted that there is not more coordination at the European level.
“We have been working intensively with other countries in recent days, especially the Netherlands, but we need to coordinate this kind of evacuation much better in Europe,” he commented.
The Belgian politician also stressed that they must “find the right balance between taking the right people to the airport and only taking people who are entitled to assistance.”
