politics
EU Meets Taliban Representatives After 20 Member States Request Pathways to Deport Afghans
Twenty EU member states sought concrete deportation pathways for Afghans lacking legal residence. The Guardian reported the 24 June 2025 Brussels meeting drew protests and criticism from Afghan women advocates.
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EU officials met Taliban representatives in Brussels on 24 June 2025 to discuss scaling up deportations of Afghan migrants. Twenty member states had called for concrete pathways to remove Afghans without legal residence permits. The European Commission confirmed the meeting after the invitation referenced Afghans with no legal right to remain in the EU.
An EU spokesperson stated the talks would focus on individuals who pose a security threat. Angry protests took place outside the Brussels parliament following the session. The Guardian reported the leader of the Afghan delegation said discussions also covered possible resumption of consular services.
EU data showed member states received about one million Afghan asylum applications between 2013 and 2024, with roughly half approved. People from Afghanistan accounted for the highest number of applicants last year. A UN report published the previous year found many returned Afghans faced arbitrary arrest, detention, torture and ill treatment.
About 40 percent of Afghanistan's population is affected by hunger. Zahra Nader stated on the day of the meeting that the talks amounted to a slap in the faces of Afghan women. She added that the EU was signaling their suffering under five years of rights restrictions did not amount to anything.
The Taliban regime returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Women and girls have since faced no schooling beyond age 11, exclusion from the job market and public spaces, and a new marriage law.
