Belgium announced on Monday that it had issued five visas to a Taliban delegation to attend a European Union meeting on migration in Brussels. This marks the first time the EU has hosted the group since the Islamists regained control of Afghanistan five years ago.
Restricted Visas for One-Day Visit
The visas are limited in both geographic scope and duration, permitting travel only within Belgium and for a single day, according to a Belgian foreign ministry spokesperson. The exact date of the visit was withheld for security reasons. Two European officials confirmed that the delegation received one-day visas valid only on Tuesday, June 23.
EU Technical Meeting on Deportations
The European Commission invited Taliban officials last month to discuss the deportation of Afghan migrants, despite warnings from human rights groups that such engagement could endanger Afghans and undermine core EU values. The Commission emphasized that the meeting is technical in nature and does not imply recognition of Taliban rule. Commission spokesman Markus Lammert stated, “Member States are looking into ways to return persons who have committed serious crimes and who are possibly a security threat. So this is the initiative that the Commission is now following up on.”
According to a letter seen by Reuters and addressed to Abdul Qaher Balkhi, a Taliban foreign ministry spokesman, the meeting will focus on “the return and readmission of Afghan nationals without a right to stay in the European Union.”
Human Rights Concerns
Since returning to power, the Taliban have systematically curtailed rights, restricting women’s freedom of movement, banning girls from education beyond primary school, and enforcing morality laws that limit free expression and employment access. Rights organizations have urged the EU to abandon its engagement plan. Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch, said, “Any engagement with the Taliban needs to prioritize protecting human rights and accountability — not deporting people to danger there.”
The EU has not disclosed which Taliban representatives were invited, and several senior Taliban leaders remain under EU sanctions. Eve Geddie, director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, commented, “The desperate scenes of people — including EU staff — fleeing Afghanistan are a recent memory. It is unconscionable that the EU would now try and deport people to Afghanistan, which has only become more dangerous in the meantime.”
Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan
Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have sought asylum in Europe since 2021. EU law permits deportations of individuals convicted of serious crimes or deemed security threats, but returns to Afghanistan have been limited due to the absence of diplomatic relations. Although Afghans are among the nationalities with the highest asylum recognition rates in the EU, overall acceptance has tightened as migration policies become more restrictive.
Afghanistan is currently experiencing a severe humanitarian crisis. According to the UN World Food Programme, more than 17 million Afghans — or one-third of the population — are “food insecure,” while the country is absorbing tens of thousands of returnees from Iran and Pakistan.
