Eurotopics.net

At least 85 people have died and 150 have been injured in the terrorist attacks in Kabul. The IS terrorist militia, which operates independently of the Taliban in Afghanistan and advocates an even more extreme interpretation of Islam, has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Europe's press looks at the impact on the evacuation operations and what the attack says about the balance of power in Afghanistan.

Women and girls will likely be among the main victims of the failed mission in Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban. The Terre des Femmes organisation has voiced fears that they will be denied the right to education, employment and self-determination. They also face the prospect of full-body veils, forced marriages and public punishment. Notwithstanding their situation some commentators argue that pity is out of place here.

The UK is suffering from a shortage of lorry drivers, partly because about 20,000 Eastern European drivers have left the country since Brexit. The resulting empty shelves in British supermarkets have been impossible to overlook in recent weeks. Commentators take very different views as to whether Brexit was a mistake or a blessing in this respect.

On his current visit to the Czech Republic, Frank-Walter Steinmeier became the first German President to honour the memory of the Czechoslovakians who killed Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi architect of the Holocaust, in 1942. The two countries are ready to show mutual understanding, Czech observers conclude.

In a referendum scheduled for September 26, the Swiss will vote on "marriage for everyone". At the end of 2020 the Swiss parliament approved legislation allowing civil marriages for gay couples as well as adoption and artificial insemination through sperm donation for lesbian couples, but a cross-party committee wants to overturn the decision in the referendum. The Swiss Bishops' Conference is also a member of the committee.