The European Union is moving towards closer cooperation with Afghanistan’s Taliban regime over the return of Afghan migrants, despite legal and human rights concerns about sending people back to the country.
Issued on: 15/05/2026 – 18:09Modified: 15/05/2026 – 18:09
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The European Commission this week confirmed that it had invited Taliban representatives to Brussels for technical talks on deportations, with EU officials saying the meeting could take place before the summer.
The discussions reflect growing pressure from several European governments seeking to send back rejected asylum seekers and Afghans convicted of crimes. Rights groups and migration analysts warn that conditions in Afghanistan remain unsafe.
“The European Commission, together with the Swedish Ministry of Justice, has sent a letter to the de facto authorities in Afghanistan asking them to take part in a technical meeting on the return of Afghan migrants,” European Commission spokesperson Markus Lammert told journalists in Brussels on Tuesday.
He said that EU member states had mandated the European Union to maintain “operational dialogue” with the Taliban, but added this “in no way” amounted to a formal recognition of the regime.
Two technical meetings between European officials and Afghan authorities have already taken place in Kabul. This time, the talks would be held in Brussels, bringing Taliban representatives into the heart of EU institutions.
Planned EU-Taliban talks on return of Afghan nationals spark backlash
Deportation pressure
Several European governments have been pushing Brussels for months to restart deportations to Afghanistan, which were heavily restricted after the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
Twenty countries, including Germany, Poland, Greece and Italy, sent a joint letter to Brussels in October 2025 calling for negotiations with the authorities in Kabul.
They argue that Europe needs to resume deportations of some rejected Afghan asylum seekers and people convicted of crimes because they pose a security risk.
Germany became the first European country to deport Afghans back to Taliban-run Afghanistan in August 2024. Since then, 121 Afghans living illegally in Germany have been returned to Kabul in three deportation operations.
German authorities said those deported had criminal records involving offences including sexual violence, homicide and assault – but an investigation this month by German broadcaster ZDF found Berlin was also targeting single Afghan men with no criminal convictions.
Afghan nationals arrive at Hanover-Langenhagen airport in Germany in September 2025. AFP – MICHAEL MATTHEY
Taliban representatives travelled to Germany in July last year after demanding that direct talks take place before further deportations could go ahead.
“We want to carry out regular returns, and that does not mean only charter flights, but also commercial flights,” German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said in early October.
Austria followed 10 days later by deporting an Afghan refugee convicted of sexual offences and aggravated violence.
“These criminals must leave our country and where they come from does not matter,” Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said.
EU confirms ‘contact’ with Taliban in Afghanistan over migrant returns
Rights concerns
Rights groups and migration specialists say deportations to Afghanistan remain dangerous under Taliban rule.
“It is obvious that the conditions are not in place for people to return to Afghanistan,” Laurent Delbos from Forum Réfugiés, a French refugee support organisation, told RFI.
While European law does not completely prohibit deportations to Afghanistan, member states remain bound by the European Convention on Human Rights, which bans torture and inhuman treatment.
“Case law from recent decades prohibits returning people to countries where they would face this kind of treatment,” explained Matthieu Tardis, a migration policy specialist and co-director of the French migration research group Synergies Migrations.
Afghan refugees gather during a protest calling for support from the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR in Islamabad in May 2022. AFP – FAROOQ NAEEM
UN agencies have repeatedly issued warnings over human rights violations in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power. Reports have documented arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, political repression and what UN officials describe as “gender apartheid”.
Afghans were the largest group of asylum seekers in the European Union in 2025, while Eurostat figures showed that 73 percent received protection at the first stage of the asylum process.
The European Court of Human Rights blocked the deportation of an Afghan man from Sweden in March because of a “real risk of ill-treatment” if he returned, partly because of his “westernisation”.
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Diplomatic line crossed
European governments are also trying to overcome practical barriers to deportations.
Without cooperation from the Taliban authorities on travel documents and flights, deportations remain difficult to carry out.
“These discussions must move forward if they want to implement these deportations,” Tardis explained.
Criticism has already emerged inside the European Parliament.
“For years, the European Commission has collaborated with some of the world’s most authoritarian regimes as part of European Union migration policy,” French Green member of the European Parliament Mélissa Camara told RFI.
“A new line has been crossed with the invitation of representatives of the Taliban regime. It marks a profound abandonment of the values and rights that form the foundation of the European Union.”
Amnesty International researcher Zaman Sultani condemned what he called a “scandalous” shift that ignored arbitrary Taliban rule.
“Most of the deportees we spoke to are human rights activists who can no longer even return to where they lived or work because they fear being recognised and then tortured or killed,” he said. “But where can they return except home?”
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called in July last year for “an immediate halt to forced returns of all Afghan refugees and asylum seekers”.
This article has been adapted from the original verison in French by Caroline Renaux.