The appeal came after Belgium issued one-day visas to five members of a Taliban delegation expected to attend a European Union meeting on migration in Brussels.
A spokesperson for Belgium’s Foreign Ministry said the visas have limited territorial and temporal validity, allowing the delegation to remain only in Belgium and for a single day. Two European officials said the visas were valid Tuesday, June 23.
The Belgian ministry has not disclosed the meeting’s location or precise timing, citing security concerns.
In an open letter, members of the European Parliament, German federal lawmakers and former members of Afghanistan’s parliament said that issuing visas or holding official political meetings with Taliban representatives would send a signal of acceptance to a group that has sought international recognition since returning to power in August 2021.
“Every invitation, every visa and every official meeting sends a political signal,” said Hannah Neumann, a German member of the European Parliament from the Greens-European Free Alliance group.
“The Taliban are not seeking technical discussions, they are seeking legitimacy. The EU established clear benchmarks for engagement in 2021. Nearly five years later, none have been met. Instead, the Taliban have systematically dismantled the rights of women and girls and intensified political repression. Europe should not trade its principles for deportation deals,” Neumann said.
The European Commission has described the planned talks as technical and said they do not amount to recognition of the Taliban government. The meeting is expected to focus on the possible return or readmission of Afghan migrants who do not have a legal right to remain in the EU, particularly those considered security threats.
The planned visit would be the first time the European Union has hosted Taliban representatives since the group seized control of Afghanistan nearly five years ago.
Sources familiar with the arrangements previously told Afghanistan International that the delegation would be led by Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesperson for the Taliban Foreign Ministry, and would travel to Brussels from Türkiye.
The planned meeting has angered Afghan activists and human rights campaigners, who argue that deportees could face detention, persecution or other abuses after being returned to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Campaigners have also warned that hosting Taliban officials in a European capital could contribute to the gradual normalization of the group’s government.
Signatories to the letter include Neumann; Filiz Polat, a member of Germany’s Bundestag from the Alliance 90/The Greens party; Raquel García Hermida-van der Walle of Renew Europe, who chairs the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with Afghanistan; and Alessandra Moretti of the Socialists and Democrats group, the delegation’s vice chair.
Former Afghan parliamentarian and women’s rights advocate Fawzia Koofi and members of the Afghan Parliamentary Network also signed the letter.
The signatories called on EU institutions and national governments to refrain from inviting Taliban representatives to Brussels or other European capitals and to reject arrangements linking deportation cooperation to political engagement.
They also urged European governments to maintain the benchmarks for engagement established by the EU in 2021 and to prioritize assistance for Afghan civil society organizations, women human rights defenders and people persecuted by the Taliban.
The letter was sent to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever.
