Blinken and Loudrian: The Taliban must live up to its commitments
According to Fars News Agency’s International Group, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian during a visit to Paris today (Tuesday).
According to Statement According to the US State Department, Blinken agreed during the meeting on the agreement between US and French Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron in a phone call on September 22, to maintain close discussions between the two countries.
“They also agreed to remain in close contact on the issue of Afghanistan and stressed the need for the Taliban to abide by its commitments,” the statement said.
The State Department said Blinken and Laudrine discussed areas of close cooperation and coordination, including in the Indo-Pacific and coastal regions.
According to the statement, both sides stressed the importance of US-EU cooperation during the forthcoming French presidency of the Council of Europe, the strengthening of the NATO alliance, US support for European security plans and the climate crisis.
“I had a constructive conversation with French Foreign Minister Laudrian to address common economic and development challenges, including regional issues in the Indo-Pacific, the coast and Afghanistan,” Blinken wrote on Twitter.
Earlier, during a meeting with the French president, Blinken announced Washington’s support for European security-military plans, but warned that these plans should not be detrimental to NATO. (More details)
Western media described Blinken’s visit to Paris as aimed at repairing relations between the two countries, following tensions over a US-British-Australian security agreement to build nuclear submarines and security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.
Tensions between France and the United States flared when the leaders of the United States, Britain and Australia recently signed an agreement on diplomatic, security and military cooperation across the Indo-Pacific region and announced Australia’s nuclear submarine program as the first major project. Canberra has announced that it will terminate the $ 90 billion submarine deal with Paris.
The move has since strained France’s relations with those countries, especially Australia and the United States, and Paris has described it as a dagger in the back. The French Ministry of Defense says Newell Group has so far completed about $ 1.1 billion in submarine contract work.
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