The EU External Affairs Commissioner, Mr Chris Patten, has warned that the international community must avoid behaving like a colonial power in attempting to determine the shape of Afghanistan's next government.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Mr Patten rejected a call by the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, Mrs Mary Robinson, for the international community to insist that women should be represented in the new government.
"I think it's extremely difficult for us to insist on the involvement of anyone in the next government. Just as I think it would be a terrible error for us to walk away from the politics or the economics of Afghanistan after a military campaign, so it would be a mistake for us to try to impose a political solution.
"I think the United Nations and the international community will have influence, but there is a difference between having influence and behaving like a colonial or invading power," he said.
Mr Patten expressed satisfaction at co-ordinated nature of the European response to the events of September 11th, which he contrasted with the divisions evident during the Gulf War.
But he acknowledged that it was too early to predict that President George W Bush would entirely abandon the unilateralism that characterised his foreign policy during the first few months of his administration.
"I hope that they recognise that multilateralism is important even for the world's only superpower. You can no longer describe the national interest simply in national terms. No nation is sufficient unto itself. You can't deal with the problems thrown up by globalisation or embrace all the opportunities without working with others.
"The case for multilateralism, even for the biggest kid on the block, is unarguable," he said.
Mr Patten shares responsibility for Europe's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) with Mr Javier Solana, who answers to heads of government rather than the Commission. Rumours of tension between the two men are the regular stuff of Brussels dinner parties but Mr Patten insists their relationship is utterly harmonious.
"I suspect that arguments about Javier Solana and myself simply keep repeating out of habit rather than because anybody can point to a single instance of difference between us or a single argument between us, let alone any evidence that we don't co-operate extremely effectively," he said.
As EU leaders prepare to meet in Laeken next week, much of the EU's energy is directed towards the forthcoming debate about the future of Europe.
Mr Patten accepts that reforms are needed in preparation for enlargement but he makes no attempt to conceal his irritation with arguments over such issues as qualified majority voting, known in EU jargon as QMV.
"I get seriously fed up with these theological debates, this endless institutional navel-gazing.
"If you brought people in off the street here or in Dublin or anywhere and asked them what QMV was or CFSP or if they could tell you what was the difference between Pillar One and Pillar Two, they'd think you'd taken leave of your senses.
"For them, what they want is to live in a more secure world, they want to see their country co-operating with others to reduce crime, to deal with asylum and to deal with terrorist threats.
"They want to see their country co-operating with others in order to make the economy more competitive and produce more jobs.
"They don't want bloody great endless arguments about whither Europe," he said.
