The USA will use its political, diplomatic and economic influence to hold those who take control of Afghanistan to the standards of human rights, the USA’s Chargé d’Affaires to Malta Gwendolyn “Wendy” Green told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

The Taliban this week completed its takeover of Afghanistan, including the country’s capital Kabul, from the Afghan government military. International forces had taken the decision to withdraw from the country in 2020 and are currently doing so following a commitment by the Taliban not to allow extremist groups to operate in the areas under their control.

The chargé d’affaires was asked what the USA’s concerns are over the quick takeover by the Taliban after its decision to leave, and whether they can work with them.

“It wasn’t just the USA, it was a coalition. In 2020 an agreement was signed with the Taliban that there would be a withdrawal of coalition forces after 20 years (of being there), which is a long time.”

“This agreement and decision to leave was not made without an awareness of risk. Were we all surprised at just how quickly it happened? Yes.” 

The USA’s focus now is on the evacuation of its citizens, the citizens of the coalition and allies, as well as Afghans who want to leave, she said.

“Many of those Afghans have worked alongside us for the last 20 years and so we are focused on ensuring that they can leave if they want to. In fact, Malta joined us in a statement along with 106 other countries calling for the safety of Afghans who wish to leave and calling on the Taliban to ensure that it happens.”

“What’s next in terms of the political aspects of it? We are going to continue to use our international, political, diplomatic and economic influence to ensure and hold, whoever is in control of Afghanistan, accountable and hold them to the standards of human rights, particularly for women, children and minorities because they are at risk there. Everyone’s eyes are on whoever takes control of the Afghan government in the end, to ensure that those standards are held. They risk international isolation if they don’t ensure that.”

As for whether there is concern that Afghanistan could again become a hotbed for terrorist activity since the Taliban is taking over, she said yes.

“Obviously that is our concern and is why we went to Afghanistan 20 years ago. The very reason we went was because of the 9/11 attacks and to ensure that no terrorist organisation could use Afghanistan as a launching pad to engage in terrorism against us, our allies or against anyone in the world.”

“Our focus now is on ensuring that Afghanistan does not again become a safe haven for terrorists. I spent two years of my life in Eastern Afghanistan working on this problem, so I have a vested interest in ensuring this doesn’t happen,” she said.

She was asked whether it would be more of a case of isolating Afghanistan in the future if that becomes the case.

“One of the things I want to underline is that it is not just the USA’s decision to make. It is the international community at large. Just this week we had a Security Council decision, including China and Russia, telling the Taliban that we are watching, and that what they do has implications. I don’t think we are in a position to say that if X happens, Y would be the result. That being said, yes, international isolation would be the minimum of what we would be talking about,” Green said.

She rejected the notion that the decision to leave Afghanistan was a sign that the USA was going back to isolationism in terms of its foreign policy.

“I would argue that it’s the opposite,” she said. “US President Joe Biden, upon taking office, made it very clear that we are looking to get back into the room where discussions are held in an international manner, through our partners, allies and rebuild those bridges with our alliances and ensure that we are moving forward in a cohesive way internationally,” she said.

“It’s never been just the USA on its own, but the USA together with its partners, and I don’t think that leaving Afghanistan is isolationism. A 20-year commitment was a long commitment.”

The past years have seen stability issues in other countries, like Syria and Libya. She was asked whether the USA foresees itself playing a role in the stabilisation of these regions.

“They are both incredibly difficult problem sets and the USA is very aware that the stability of these areas depends on international cooperation and using institutions like the United Nations, to ensure that there is a consolidated and single approach to helping resolve issues. We continue to work through those bodies, particularly the international ones, on these difficult regional challenges and we will continue to stay engaged,” Green said.

 

Malta and the US

Speaking about the relationship between the USA and Malta, she said that the two have been “strong partners since Malta’s independence.”

“That partnership has continued to develop and progress over the years (…) We are partners and we see the world in a common light through shared values and principles. We are both democracies. This is the foundation on which we build our relationship.”

She said that the two countries are stronger together and, in terms of the future relationship between the two countries, she sees the two continuing to work side-by-side.

She was also asked whether, while there are several court cases ongoing on the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination, Malta should be doing more or if enough is being done.

“We would love to see that justice is achieved, especially in the case of Daphne’s murder. Justice is justice for her family, justice for the journalistic community around her and also justice for Malta. It’s hard to have something like this hanging over your country’s head and, moving beyond that by closing the case, convicting the perpetrators and really showing resolution to end this would benefit everyone in Malta in great ways.”

“I have been pleased to see that we have moved forward on the case, even since my arrival, and that’s great. But, it is still ongoing and so we will continue to call for holding the perpetrators of her murder accountable, not just for her family, but for all of Malta, as that is what Malta deserves,” she said.

Malta has been placed under the microscope in recent years, following the assassination of Caruana Galizia as well as the many scandals that occurred, resulting in the country’s international reputation being impacted. Asked how she has seen Malta’s reputation develop or change since she arrived in the country 13 months ago, Green believes there has been a lot of progress.

“We’ve made a lot of movement forward on important issues. None of these things happen quickly and progress cannot be marked by day or month, but rather over an arc of time. That arc of time continues and I see it on an upward trajectory. People are saying the right things, we’re talking about the rule of law, addressing issues of corruption, holding people accountable. These are the right things.”

“Over time I hope that this remains to be the theme, addressing corruption and addressing what are clearly holes in areas that need to be improved within the judicial and financial sectors.”

The important part, she said, is that there is a recognition that work needs to be done.

“We are, as partners, helping Malta work on those issues. We have amazing relationships with people who can affect change here and that is where we start and we are already making progress.”

Malta was this year placed on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list. 

Asked about this, Green said that it is quite a challenge for Malta.

“The FATF is the international body that oversees issues of terrorist financing and money laundering. The USA obviously has a lot of interest in those areas. They are important issues for us and we are part of the 37-member component of FATF. FATF is a very technical body and is comprised of technical experts (...) What they assess is whether or not policies and legislation in a country are effective. There are a lot of things that exist on paper in a lot of places, but what the FATF and these technical experts look at is whether what exists is effective. So you may have, for example, a law that deals with money laundering for example, but if it is not being used then it is not effective.”

She said that there is no politics in the FATF.

“When Malta’s review was taking place, the experts spent months really diving in, but in the end FATF is a consensus-based body. There is not one country of the 37 that can overrule or make something happen. It is not political. In the end it is about the technical analyses.”

“As the grey listing went forward, we recognised that it is a challenge for Malta, but it is a challenge we want to help them move forward with. We are already working in partnership, as we did before, but in even more targeted ways to help Malta get off the grey list as soon as possible.”

 

This interview was conducted on Thursday morning.

 

Photos: Giuseppe Attard