Afghan Taliban, EU to Hold Rare Talks  06/23 06:11

   

   BRUSSELS (AP) -- A delegation from the Afghan Taliban is traveling to 
Brussels on Tuesday for closed-door talks with European Union staff, expected 
to focus on deportations, said a Taliban official.

   Afghans make up one of the largest groups of migrants seeking asylum in the 
European Union, but a growing number of governments in the 27-nation bloc want 
to speed up and increase deportations for those whose claims are rejected or 
who commit crimes in their host countries.

   Afghan authorities have imposed draconian restrictions on rights, 
particularly for women and girls, since the Taliban seized power in the country 
in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.

   Rights groups said Tuesday's meeting undercuts the EU's human rights 
obligations and could endanger people in Europe and Afghanistan.

   "Any engagement with the Taliban needs to prioritize protecting human rights 
and accountability -- not deporting people to danger there," said Fereshta 
Abbasi, a researcher at Human Rights Watch. "EU countries are undermining their 
credibility by condemning Taliban abuses and pursuing accountability on one 
hand, while cooperating with the Taliban to forcibly return Afghans on the 
other."

   With not a single EU nation recognizing the Taliban, the meeting in Brussels 
symbolizes a small crack in the group's diplomatic isolation since seizing 
power five years ago.

   The five-person delegation in Brussels from the Taliban -- a government that 
none of 27 EU nations recognizes -- includes Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a New 
Zealand-born spokesperson for the Taliban's foreign ministry, said a Taliban 
official speaking on condition of anonymity.

   Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prvot said that while Belgium doesn't 
recognize the Taliban, it would comply with EU requests to grant the Taliban 
visas.

   "Belgium cannot confer legitimacy on a regime accused of serious human 
rights violations," he said in a statement referring to Belgium's hosting of 
the EU institutions. "Making a meeting possible in the framework of our 
host-state policy does not amount to recognition, does not amount to 
legitimacy, and does not constitute an invitation by the Belgian government."

   Members of the Taliban delegation were issued visas after security screening 
with limited territorial validity, giving them 24 hours in Belgium and no 
access to other countries in the Schengen border-free travel zone.

   Since neither Belgium nor the EU officially recognizes the Taliban 
government, the meeting will not take place on official buildings or sites 
belonging to either. The European Commission has declined repeated requests to 
provide additional information.

   Drive to increase deportations

   A spokesperson for the European Commission said Monday that the meeting is 
in response to pressure from a clear majority of the 27 EU nations -- 20 of 
whom signed a letter in October calling for stronger migration policies 
including a ramping up of deportations.

   "They had asked the Commission to coordinate such technical contacts on 
returns," said spokesperson Markus Lammert. "Member states are looking into 
ways to return persons who have committed serious crimes and who are possibly a 
security threat."

   The first EU-Taliban meeting was held in Afghanistan in January when the 
Commission sent a mission to Kabul. It also maintains staff there.

   The October letter was drafted in part by Belgian Migration Minister 
Anneleen Van Bossuyt, who said then that "we have sent a clear and powerful 
message to the European Commission: we can no longer afford a standstill. It is 
high time for a firm and joint approach, so that Europe can regain control over 
migration and security."

   Bossuyt said that across the EU, only 2% of the 22,870 Afghans told to 
return had done so.

   Another Commission spokesperson said the meeting "does not mean by any means 
recognition."

   Deteriorating situation in Afghanistan

   Afghanistan has been dealing with the return of about 3 million Afghans from 
Pakistan and Iran in the past year alone, all of whom have been pretty much 
been forcibly repatriated from those two countries, exacerbating a humanitarian 
disaster in Afghanistan, already reeling from food and economic crises 
including biting sanctions on the Islamic Emirate.

   Afghan Taliban authorities have imposed draconian restrictions on women and 
girls, including bans on education beyond primary school and on working in all 
but very few professions, as well as strict regulations on what women are 
allowed to wear in public.

   "The desperate scenes of people -- including EU staff -- fleeing Afghanistan 
are a recent memory. It is unconscionable that the EU would now try and deport 
people to Afghanistan, which has only become more dangerous in the meantime," 
said Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International's European Institutions 
Office.

   Facing political pressure to toughen migration policies across the 27-nation 
bloc, the EU has recently passed deep reforms to its collective rules aiming to 
ramp up deportations -- including allowing the setting up of so-called "return 
hubs," increased domestic surveillance capabilities, tighter border controls, 
and engagement with the Taliban government which it does not recognize because 
of human rights abuse allegations.

   With Afghanistan facing food shortages and economic collapse, the Taliban 
government is in need of humanitarian aid and hopes to lessen its international 
economic and political isolation.