A Taliban delegation is expected in Brussels before the summer for highly sensitive talks with EU and national officials on the deportation of Afghans, officials familiar with the discussions said. Euractiv.
The meeting, which is being coordinated after a push by Belgium’s migration ministry, will take place in Brussels and will include officials from the European Commission, the European External Action Service and other selected national administrations, including Sweden.
An EU official said the invitation is expected to be issued by the Commission with Swedish support and will be sent in the coming weeks for the meeting to take place before the summer.
A visit by EU and Belgian officials to Kabul in January laid the groundwork for a follow-up meeting in Europe.
A spokesman for the Commission said Euractiv the executive is preparing a follow-up to the previous mission, but will not say if he will extend the invitation or if the meeting will be held in Belgium.
A spokeswoman for Belgium’s Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt confirmed this Euractiv that EU countries and the Commission are in technical talks in Brussels for the next mission.
The commission has previously confirmed maintaining exploratory contacts at a technical level with the de facto authorities of Afghanistan, in coordination with the EU diplomatic service, on the issue of deportations.
The commission says exploratory talks with the Taliban on returns are already underway
The European Commission confirmed that it has held “exploratory contacts at a technical level” with Afghanistan…
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Belgium is expected to facilitate visas for the Afghan delegation, although officials stressed that the invitation itself would not come officially from Belgium, reflecting domestic political sensitivities. Maxime Prévot, the Belgian foreign minister, had been reluctant to issue such an invitation directly, one of the officials said.
A Belgian foreign job miNiSTry the spokesman said Euractiv that Brussels has no diplomatic ties with the Taliban and does not invite its representatives, at any level, but host country rules may force Belgium to allow meetings on its soil for the EU. So far, no such request has been made by the Commission, the spokesman said.
The planned Brussels talks will remain strictly technical in nature, without political representation, to avoid any perception of formal recognition of the Taliban government, three EU officials said. The talks are likely to be held in a neutral location, such as a hotel in the Belgian capital, rather than on EU premises.
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Discussions are expected to focus on practical cooperation mechanisms, including the identification of Afghan nationals who are subject to return and the issuance of travel documents.
The commission had initially resisted issuing an invitation independently, citing concerns about acting without a unified mandate from governments, one of the officials cited said. Euractiv. However, its position changed after Sweden signaled its willingness to support the initiative.
In October, Bossuyt, the Belgian migration minister, led an initiative supported by 19 member states calling for greater EU-level coordination on the deportation of irregular and criminal Afghan nationals. Euractiv first reported.
National governments are pushing for an EU-wide mechanism to coordinate the deportation of Afghan nationals who lack the legal right to remain in the bloc or have been convicted of crimes.
The Taliban’s reception is controversial because of the authoritarian Islamic regime’s 2024 ban on girls and women from secondary and university education, as well as its crackdown on the press and the arbitrary detention or torture of critics.
The Swedish migration minister’s office did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
(bw, jp)
