NATO will have to 'swallow a bitter pill' and work to understand the mistakes made in Afghanistan, Croatian MEP Tonino Picula said on Tuesday, adding that the priority now has to be easing the suffering of the people in the country after the capital of Kabul fell into Taliban hands without any resistance from Afghan forces.

“Twenty years of investing by NATO member states in institution building, in training and equipping Afghan defence forces proved to be totally ineffective in just a few days as the Taliban took over the country. Many will have to answer serious questions as to how and why that happened,” said Picula, who serves as the Socialists and Democrats’ foreign policy coordinator.

“As an alliance, we will have to swallow a bitter pill and try to understand all that we did wrong. But today the ones who suffer the most are the people of Afghanistan. They paid the highest price of that failure. Our priority must be to alleviate their suffering, notably by evacuating those in the gravest danger and ensuring relief for all the needy,” Picula said.

“It’s especially necessary to watch the behaviour of the Taliban, notably in the sphere of women’s rights, the safety of minorities and the fight against international terrorism,” he added. “Afghanistan must not be safe for terrorists and any violation of those rules must lead to sanctions, diplomatic isolation, and the severing of any potential forms of assistance for organisations tied to the authorities.”

He added that an urgent meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and Committee on Development with High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, had been requested concerning relief and the evacuation of Afghanistan’s partners.