‘It Is Moral Duty To Help Afghans’, G7 Leaders Say

European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that G7 leaders agreed that it was their collective "moral duty" to help Afghan people amid the current situation in Afghanistan.

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"We all agreed that it is our moral duty to help the Afghan people and to provide as much support as possible as conditions allow," von der Leyen said. "To protect these most vulnerable, it is clearly a matter for global cooperation and it has to be dealt with as such from the start. These people should not fall into smugglers' hands, they need safe pathways."

The Commission will propose to almost quadruple the humanitarian aid coming from the European Union (EU) budget, to over US$236 million for the year 2021. However, von der Leyen added that "the future development assistance has to be condition-based… linked to fundamental values, human rights, and of course women's rights."

The EU has set aside one billion euros for Afghanistan's development in the next seven years. But the aid is frozen until the bloc has solid guarantees and credible actions on the ground that the conditions are being met.

Charles Michel, president of the European Council, called on the new Afghan authorities to allow free passage to all foreign and Afghan citizens who wish to get to the airport. He also said that “it is too early to decide what kind of relations we will develop with the new Afghan authorities."

In a joint statement issued after a virtual emergency meeting, the leaders of the United States, Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Canada, and Japan called for "calm and restraint to ensure the safety and security of vulnerable Afghan and international citizens, and the prevention of a humanitarian crisis."

"Our immediate priority is to ensure the safe evacuation of our citizens and those Afghans who have partnered with us and assisted our efforts over the past 20 years, and to ensure continuing safe passage out of Afghanistan. We will continue to coordinate closely on this," they added.