Hungary’s foreign minister is warning that while the Afghanistan war served as an unmitigated disaster, politicians in the West are now only compounding the mistakes made in the country by racing to accept Afghan migrants into Western countries.
“It is enough of a problem that a 20-year international effort in Afghanistan has clearly failed, but the Western world has continued to heap mistake upon mistake,” Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia, on Thursday.
According to the head of the ministry, irresponsible statements have been made repeatedly by Western allies, calling on Afghans to come to Europe without restriction.
“It’s extremely irresponsible behavior,” he said. He added that Western politicians are talking about not repeating the mistakes of 2015, but this talking is not reflected in the actions they are taking.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass has signaled that Germany plans to take in 70,000 Afghan migrants, while the United States has taken in over 125,000 and facing calls to take in up to 1 million. Other countries are ready to accept sizeable amounts of Afghans despite clear issues with integration and crime from the Afghans already residing in Western countries.
Hungary’s foreign minister believes that there were constant statements in 2015 that encouraged Syrians to come to Europe. Now, the same people are encouraging Afghans in the same manner, according to Hungarian news service MTI.
“This carries an extremely serious migration risk,” he said, adding that Hungarians have brought out the Afghans who have helped in international operations in the past, but that Hungarians are not willing to accept any Afghans beyond that.
Szijjártó stressed that the wave of migration should not be increased but stopped altogether. His statements on migration echo those of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who said this week in Slovenia during the BledAFDSD Forum that “migration must be stopped.”””
“We are not willing to participate in any distribution mechanism, be it at the initiative of the EU or NATO,” he added.
On the first day of the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers, the Afghan crisis was the main topic. During Friday’s talks, the ministers will discuss issues of cooperation with China, India, and the countries of the Persian Gulf.
Title image: Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó. (source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)
