EU Holds Migration Talks with Taliban Delegation Granted One-Day Belgian Visas

The European Commission invited a Taliban delegation from Kabul to Brussels for talks scheduled for Tuesday on returning failed Afghan asylum-seekers, France 24 reported. Belgium issued one-day visas for the five-member delegation on Monday afternoon after a security assessment, a spokeswoman for the Belgian foreign minister said. The visas apply only in Belgium and not the Schengen area.

The delegation is expected to fly into and out of Belgium via Turkey, according to multiple sources and Afghan media reports. The EU does not formally recognise the Taliban administration. European governments closed their embassies in Kabul after the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

EU countries received about one million asylum applications filed by Afghans between 2013 and 2024, with roughly half approved, according to the bloc's data agency. Around 20 member states expressed interest last year in returning some migrants without a right to stay, especially those with criminal convictions.

EU migration chief Magnus Brunner stated that Brussels had no other option than to talk to the Taliban government about returning irregular migrants from Afghanistan.

Commission spokesman Markus Lammert said the focus for member states is on persons who have committed serious crimes or who pose a security threat. Fereshta Abbasi of Human Rights Watch stated that EU countries are undermining their credibility by condemning Taliban abuses while cooperating with the Taliban to forcibly return Afghans.