Taliban officials were issued visas to travel to Brussels, according to Belgium\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as they prepared for discussions with European Union officials about the deportation of Afghans from countries within the bloc.<\/p>\n
Several nations, including Sweden<\/a>, had urged that the meeting take place. It was coordinated by the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, but had been a point of diplomatic sensitivity and criticism.<\/p>\n Laurens Soenen, a spokesman for the Belgian foreign ministry, said that five visas had been issued for the Taliban delegation late on Monday afternoon. The visas are valid for a single day in Belgium, he said. Mr. Soenen would not confirm what date the delegation was expected to arrive, citing \u201creasons of security and public order.\u201d<\/p>\n An Afghan government official said a delegation of five would travel to Brussels on Tuesday for a one-day trip aimed at discussing consular services for Afghan citizens in the European Union, including the return of some to Afghanistan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations.<\/p>\n A diplomat based in Kabul who is not part of the Taliban government but who was briefed on the visit confirmed that it was scheduled for Tuesday.<\/p>\n European countries are among many that welcomed Afghans fleeing the Taliban takeover in 2021 and that are now seeking to send them back. Last year alone, Iran<\/a> and Pakistan<\/a> forcibly returned nearly three million Afghans. The Trump administration has sought to deport Afghans<\/a> to third countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo<\/a> and the Central African Republic, and Britain is also considering sending back Afghans who were denied asylum.<\/p>\n The United Nations this year described Afghanistan as a \u201cgraveyard for human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n The European Commission has repeatedly declined to specify when the meeting with Afghan government officials might happen. Its officials have called the visit a \u201ctechnical\u201d get-together, and have reiterated that European Union member states had asked for the meeting.<\/p>\n No E.U. member state recognizes the Taliban administration as Afghanistan\u2019s legitimate authority, and E.U. officials have for weeks sought to downplay the significance of the Taliban visit.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about a political visit,\u201d Gilles Bertrand, the bloc\u2019s special envoy for Afghanistan, said in an interview<\/a> this month with Amu TV, an Afghan news outlet. \u201cThis is not changing the E.U.\u2019s policy of not recognizing the de facto authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n Some countries have already begun to expel Afghan nationals through bilateral coordination with the Afghan authorities. The Afghan official said that Germany had already expelled 120 Afghans this year.<\/p>\n Member states \u201care looking into ways to return persons who have committed serious crimes and who are possibly a security threat,\u201d Markus Lammert, a spokesman for the European Commission, said at a news conference on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat the commission can do is to help coordinate and facilitate contacts at a technical level,\u201d Mr. Lammert added. \u201cThis is what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Nearly five years after they swept back into power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have remained pariahs in international institutions, with no representation at the United Nations and other forums.<\/p>\n Only Russia recognizes the group as Afghanistan\u2019s legitimate authority. China has maintained diplomatic ties with the Taliban administration but has grown increasingly frustrated with insecurity in the country, according to diplomats and security officials based in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n The European Union also has a delegation in Kabul, which it says is designed mostly to provide humanitarian aid and to advocate for the protection of human rights.<\/p>\n The European Commission has faced criticism over the meeting from more than 60 human rights organizations<\/a>, including Human Rights Watch, which denounced in a statement what it called the bloc\u2019s double game of \u201ccondemning Taliban abuses and pursuing accountability on one hand, while cooperating with the Taliban to forcibly return Afghans on the other.\u201d<\/p>\n