Afghanistan crisis shows EU must seek greater military autonomy: Michel

LJUBLJANA (Reuters) – The European Union must take action to be better prepared for military evacuations of its citizens in situations such as occurred in Afghanistan in recent weeks, EU Council President Charles Michel said on Wednesday.

“In my view, we do not need another such geopolitical event to grasp that the EU must strive for greater decision-making autonomy and greater capacity for action in the world,” he told the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia.

Western nations scrambling to get their citizens out of Kabul after the Taliban takeover were dependent on the U.S. military to keep the airport running during airlifts.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; editing by John Stonestreet)