EU opens channels to the Taliban as part of push to increase deportations

"Determined to widen its deportation options, the European Union has adopted an increasingly unrestrained pragmatism. In addition to the agreements with Tunisia and Egypt both with authoritarian track records designed to tighten Europe's borders and reduce arrivals, the EU has now taken another controversial move: opening channels to the Taliban, a regime accused of grave and systematic humanrights abuses in Afghanistan, especially against women and girls."

"The European Commission's invitation to a Taliban delegation to discuss how to increase deportations has reignited the debate over the limits of migration policy and over the risk of whitewashing authoritarian regimes when they align with European interests. Humanrights organizations and leftwing political groups warn that the Commission's initiative could amount to de facto legitimization of the regime."

"The backdrop is particularly troubling: an increasingly hardline migration discourse, everstricter asylum conditions, and a Europe moving toward creating deportation centers outside the EU. Step by step, the EU has toughened its migration policy and is fasttracking the dismantling of taboos that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago. These moves threaten to upend the current asylum system, one of the founding values of the bloc, which was formed after the Second World War."

"Among those taboos is the outreach to the Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021. The EU does not recognize the Taliban government, yet despite this, a delegation from the Afghan Islamist regime led by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi will visit Brussels in June to meet with senior officials from the European Commission, the European External Action Service (EEAS) and representatives of several member states, including Sweden, which is helping coordinate the contacts, according to European sources."

The European Union is widening deportation options through agreements with Tunisia and Egypt aimed at tightening borders and reducing arrivals. The EU has also opened channels to the Taliban, a regime accused of grave and systematic human-rights abuses in Afghanistan, especially against women and girls. The European Commission invited a Taliban delegation to discuss increasing deportations, prompting debate about limits of migration policy and the risk of whitewashing authoritarian regimes when they align with European interests. Human-rights organizations and left-wing groups warn the initiative could amount to de facto legitimization. The move occurs alongside a hardline migration discourse, stricter asylum conditions, and plans to create deportation centers outside the EU, threatening the bloc’s asylum system values formed after World War II. The EU does not recognize the Taliban government, yet a delegation led by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi is scheduled to visit Brussels in June to meet EU officials and member-state representatives, coordinated with Sweden.

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