EU holds migration talks with Taliban delegation in Brussels

Belgium issued five visas to a Taliban delegation for a European Union migration meeting in Brussels. The meeting, scheduled for Tuesday (April 8), will focus on discussions about deporting Afghan asylum seekers from European countries.

This marks the first time the EU has held a meeting with the group since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan nearly five years ago (August 2021). A Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the five visas were granted on Monday (April 7) after a security assessment and are valid for one day only in Belgium.

The European Commission said it invited Taliban officials to the talks on irregular migration from Afghanistan into the 27-nation bloc, as well as discussions on deporting Afghans in the EU whose asylum applications have been rejected. The EU has not identified which Taliban members were invited. Some senior Taliban leaders are currently under EU sanctions.

"Member states are looking to repatriate individuals who have committed serious crimes and may pose a security threat. This is an initiative the Commission is pursuing," European Commission spokesperson Markus Lammert said at a press briefing Monday (April 7). According to a letter reviewed by Reuters, addressed to Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the meeting will focus on "the repatriation and readmission of Afghan citizens who do not have the right to remain in the European Union."

The European Commission, however, stressed that the meeting does not imply Brussels formally recognizes the Taliban. Since returning to power, the Taliban has gradually curtailed freedoms, restricted women's freedom of movement, banned girls from education beyond primary school, and enforced a moral code limiting free speech and access to employment. European governments also closed their embassies in Kabul when the Taliban regained power.

Human rights groups have urged the European Commission to abandon plans for dialogue with the Taliban. "Any engagement with the Taliban must prioritize human rights protection and accountability – not deporting people back to danger," said Fereshta Abbasi, an Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Earlier this month, EU migration chief Magnus Brunner defended the outreach, saying Brussels had no choice but to talk with the Taliban government about returning Afghan asylum seekers who entered the bloc illegally. European governments have sought a tougher stance on migration as public opinion has hardened, pushing far-right parties to electoral gains across the continent.

EU countries received about one million asylum applications from Afghans from 2013 to 2024, according to the bloc's migration agency. Though Afghans are among the nationalities with the highest refugee recognition rates in the EU, overall acceptance rates have tightened as migration policies grew more restrictive. About 20 of the 27 EU member states expressed interest in repatriating migrants without the right to stay, especially those with criminal records, to Afghanistan in a letter last year.

EU law allows the deportation of individuals convicted of serious crimes or deemed security threats in some cases, but returns to Afghanistan have been limited due to a lack of diplomatic relations. "The focus of member states is very much on individuals who have committed serious crimes or pose a security threat," Commission spokesperson Lammert said Monday (April 7).

Afghanistan is currently mired in a deep humanitarian crisis. According to the UN World Food Programme, more than 17 million Afghans – a third of the population – are experiencing "food insecurity," while the country is receiving tens of thousands of returnees from Iran and Pakistan. "The desperate scenes of people – including EU staff – fleeing Afghanistan are a recent memory," said Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International's European Institutions Office, in a statement. "It is unacceptable that the EU is now trying to deport people to Afghanistan, which has become increasingly dangerous over time," she added.