Don't believe Europe's promises to pressure the Taliban

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

56% : It was during a diplomatic suspension when Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi sent a trade delegation to Tehran with promises of $3 billion credits.
55% : Within three years, German exports to Iran had increased to $1.4 billion, more than doubling the amount of any other country's involvement in the Iranian market.
51% : By 1996, trade relations between the EU and Iran reached $29 billion.
45% : Not long after, the EU endorsed Germany's proposed "critical dialogue" with Iran.
42% : Even when European leaders suspended diplomatic ties -- for example, when Iranian security forces threatened to overrun the German Embassy in Tehran -- trade continued.
40% : After paying to spring their last hostage from Iran, the French Foreign Ministry simply denied that any evidence of Iranian terror sponsorship existed.
39% : During this same period, Iranian persecution of religious minorities increased, and Tehran refused to allow the U.N. rapporteur for human rights to step foot in the Islamic Republic.
34% : The following year, European Commissioner Hans van den Broek met with British Indian author Salman Rushdie to assure him that Iran had lifted the fatwa calling for his death (it has not ).

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