Speaking to European Voice ahead of the first-ever EU-Pakistan summit in Brussels on 17 June, de Kerchove said that since 2006 there had been a disturbing increase in the number of “youngsters from Europe going to Pakistan for training purposes for jihad”. He said that the numbers could run into “several thousand” and Pakistani cells had been discovered in the UK, Spain, Germany and Belgium. The situation was “very serious”, he said, since those trained in Pakistan mostly returned to Europe to mount their attacks.
The EU is also keen to counter the broader threats posed by the Taliban insurgency in north-west Pakistan – a supply route to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan – and by militants in Kashmir, who could provoke a war between Pakistan and India. He said that these threats were “enough reason to be seriously concerned”. Pakistan, Yemen and the Sahel region of Africa pose the greatest threat to EU security, according to de Kerchove.
Law enforcement support
The EU wants to offer law enforcement support to Pakistan in catching and prosecuting terrorists, evidence-gathering, forensics and civilian rather than military control over intelligence. He said that more EU-Pakistan co-operation could increase the flow of intelligence information to Europe.
As well as counter-terrorism, trade and Afghanistan also feature prominently on the summit's agenda.
