EU Invitation To Taliban Sparks Political Backlash And Criticism
The European Union is facing strong criticism from lawmakers and human rights groups after inviting Taliban officials to Brussels for talks on the deportation of Afghan refugees.
The European Union is facing strong criticism from lawmakers and human rights groups after inviting Taliban officials to Brussels for talks on the deportation of Afghan refugees.
The European Commission confirmed that, together with Swedish authorities, it is planning to host technical meetings with a Taliban delegation in the Belgian capital during the coming summer, although the exact date has not yet been finalised.
If the visit goes ahead, it will mark the first time since the fall of Kabul in August 2021 that the European Union has officially hosted Taliban officials.
The last time a European country hosted a Taliban delegation, in Oslo for talks with humanitarian organisations, the move triggered widespread street protests.
Markus Lammert, a spokesperson for the European Commission confirmed that EU migration officials and Sweden’s justice ministry had sent a letter to the Taliban to assess their willingness to attend the technical meeting in Brussels.
According to Lammert, the discussions focus on a proposal put forward in October last year by 20 EU and Schengen member states.
Under the proposal, member states seek to deport Afghan asylum seekers who are not granted residency rights and are considered security threats back to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
He stressed, however, that the talks do not amount to recognising the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate government.
At present, Russia remains the only country to have formally recognised the Taliban administration.
A Betrayal Of European Values
According to figures from the European Union Agency for Asylum, around 65 percent of Afghans are granted asylum in Europe but plans to deport the remaining 35 per cent to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan have sparked outrage.
Raquel Garcia Hermida-van der Walle, a member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands, condemned the move, saying: "Inviting a Taliban delegation to Brussels to discuss migration is a betrayal of our values. The Taliban receive the privilege of dealmaking with the entire European Union, and some seem fine with it."
She added: “Europeans died to give women and girls their rights. So no, don't legitimise the Taliban, ever. Those who carry out crimes against humanity should never set foot on European soil without passing through the International Criminal Court in The Hague first.”
At the same time, Pina Picierno, Vice-President of the European Parliament, submitted a written question to the European Commission demanding a justification for the decision.
She asked how the Commission could justify the move when the United Nations regards the forced return of Afghan asylum seekers as contrary to international law and the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled against the deportation of Afghan women, arguing that engaging with the Taliban goes beyond a simple operational contact and amounts to the de facto recognition of a repressive regime that commits crimes against humanity against women and girls.
Hannah Neumann, another member of the European Parliament, also sharply criticised the term "technical meetings", saying: "There is nothing 'technical' about opening doors to extremists while those who fought these extremists are stuck in Afghanistan, Iran or Turkiye, waiting years for visa appointments." Neumann also expressed concern that Taliban officials now run Afghanistan's consulates in Germany "as if it were the most normal thing in the world."
Neumann also expressed concern that Taliban officials are now overseeing Afghan consulates in Germany.
The controversial invitation comes after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in July last year for Hibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani over the systematic persecution of women and girls.
At the time, the Taliban dismissed the warrants as “meaningless” and evidence of “hostility towards Islam”.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban Spokesman, said: “We do not recognise anything called the international court and do not consider ourselves bound by its orders.”
It remains unclear whether the Taliban delegation travelling to Brussels would include individuals subject to EU sanctions.
When asked who would pay for the Taliban delegation’s flights, Markus Lammert said the EU had not yet reached that stage and was currently only assessing the Taliban’s willingness to participate in the talks.
The Taliban have so far neither officially confirmed nor denied their participation in the meeting or responded publicly to the criticism surrounding it.
