EU foreign and security policy chief Josep Borrell said on Thursday that the situation in Afghanistan showed that the EU needed a joint rapid reaction force and that the present situation could serve as a catalyst for creating such a force.

“Sometimes there are events that catalyze history, that create a breakthrough, and I think that Afghanistan is one of these cases,” Borrell said in Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia ahead of a two-day informal meeting of EU defence ministers.

He called for creating a 5,000-strong rapid reaction force to replace the existing battlegroups, which were established in 2007 but never used.

“The need for more, stronger European defence is more evident that ever,” Borrell said.