TALIBAN DELEGATION EXPECTED IN BRUSSELS FOR EU MIGRATION NEGOTIATIONS

Tue 23 June 2026:

A Taliban delegation is expected to fly into Brussels on Tuesday after being granted a one-day visa to hold talks with the EU on returning failed asylum-seekers to Afghanistan.

The European Commission has invited the officials for discussions under a push to crack down on irregular migration and boost deportations despite it not formally recognising the Taliban administration.

The EU outreach to the Taliban authorities has drawn fierce pushback, with rights groups urging the commission to back out of the planned meeting.

A spokeswoman for the foreign minister of Belgium, which issued the documents in its capacity as host country to the European institutions, told AFP the five requested visas were granted Monday afternoon “after a security assessment”.

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They were just valid for Belgium and not the broader free-movement Schengen area and for one day only, she said.

Belgium declined to disclose the date of the delegation’s arrival, citing security reasons, but multiple sources as well as Afghan media reports suggested the talks should take place Tuesday.

The Commission said the meeting is technical and does not constitute recognition of IEA rule.

“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,” Commission spokesman Markus Lammert told the EU’s daily press briefing on Monday.

According to a letter seen by Reuters and addressed to Abdul Qaher Balkhi, an Afghan foreign ministry spokesman, it will focus on “the return and readmission of Afghan nationals without a right to stay in the European Union”.

The delegation was understood to be flying in and out of the country via Türkiye.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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