Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai on Tuesday criticized the European Union’s decision to host a Taliban delegation in Brussels for migration-related talks, urging the bloc not to grant any form of legal recognition to the terrorist organization.
At least five members of the Taliban were reportedly granted single-day entry visas by Belgian authorities on Monday evening. The visas were allegedly intended to allow the Taliban representatives to visit Brussels and hold talks with representatives of the European Commission about a potential repatriation deal for Afghan migrants in Europe flagged for deportation.
While Belgian officials refused to disclose the specific date, time, and location of the meeting, the encounter took place sometime on Tuesday. The delegation was reportedly lead by Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the Taliban’s foreign affairs spokesperson.
Malala Yousafzai, who herself survived a an assassination attempt by the Taliban as a child in October 2012 and has for years condemned the lack of women’s rights under Taliban rule, published a video on social media in which she expressed to be “shaken and deeply disturbed” by the EU-Taliban talks in Brussels.
“This is the same Taliban that banned girls from secondary schools and forced them into marriage. The same Taliban that, earlier this month, arrested dozens of women in Herat for how they were dressed. The same Taliban that detains, beats, and executes women who dare to speak out or break their rules,” Yousafzai said.
“Through its system of gender apartheid, the Taliban have erased women and girls from public life. Europe must not legitimise a regime responsible for one of the worst human rights crises in the world,” she continued, and added, “Any engagement with the Taliban must begin and end with the rights of Afghan women and girls.”
The EU received a wide array of criticism in the months and days leading to Tuesday’s encounter with the Taliban in light of the terrorist group’s extensive litany of human right violations, particularly against women and girls.
According to reports, the EU officials are seeking to cut a repatriation deal for Afghan nationals not granted asylum in Europe and flagged for repatriation — complying with demands from a majority group of nations within the bloc who are seeking to deport Afghan nationals deemed to be a security threat. Per Deutsche Welle, there were about one million EU asylum applications filed by Afghan nationals between 2013 and 2024, of which roughly half were approved.
Unnamed EU officials recently claimed to Euractiv that the talks with the Taliban were intended to be “strictly technical in nature” and with no EU political representation so as to avoid any kind of “perception of formal recognition” of the Taliban government — which has exerted uncontested control over Afghanistan for roughly five years. The majority of the world’s nations do not recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan. According to reports, the talks presumptively took place in a “neutral” venue and not at any EU institutional building.
In a statement reportedly shared by Abdul Qahar Balkhi with Euractiv, the Taliban spokesman claimed that the delegation and EU officials discussed measures aimed at “restarting broad-range consular services” for Afghan nationals in the EU zone. Balkhi further claimed that the talks covered arrangements for a “dignified” return of Afghan nationals deported from the EU.
“This was a historic visit as first time ever that delegation from Islamic Emirate visited the EU and held talks with member states in Brussels,” Balkhi reportedly said in his statement. “We hope to build positive momentum to safeguard the consular rights of Afghans residing abroad.”
A European Commission spokesperson detailed to Euractiv that the “technical-level” meeting with the Taliban representatives saw the participation of 15 EU member states on the subject of identification of Afghan returnees, the issuance of travel documents, and their return. Per the spokesperson, the focus of the talks “was on persons who have committed serious crimes and who pose a security threat.”
Unnamed sources from the Belgium’s Asylum and Migration Ministry told the Belga News Agency that Belgium was among the group of 15 EU member states represented at the meeting with the Taliban.
Last week, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot expressed that although he opposes the European Commission’s invitation of Taliban representatives to Brussels, they could not refuse issuing visas to the group as Belgium houses the EU’s headquarters.
The German newspaper Bild an Sonntag reported over the weekend that Germany struck a deal with the Taliban to establish a “deportation airlift” to Kabul for the deportation of Afghan nationals who have committed serious crimes in Germany. According to the report, the deal contemplates three deportation charter flights to Kabul per week, with complementary individual deportations via regularly scheduled flights.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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