Afghan media revealed this weekend that the Taliban terrorist organization had received an invitation from the European Union (EU) to visit its headquarters in Brussels for talks on repatriating Afghan migrants in Europe, expected to take place on June 22 and 23.
The Afghan newspaper Hasht-e Subh and several other outlets reporting on the meeting later observed that there is no comment at press time from the Taliban nor any verification that the jihadist terrorists have received visas to enter the EU. The latter could potentially prove an obstacle given the decades of deadly jihadist activity that many Taliban leaders engaged in prior to their seizure of power in Kabul on August 15, 2021. Much of that activity directly targeted the coalition of countries, including several EU members, fighting the “war on terror” alongside America in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.
EU leaders had discussed the possibility of direct talks with the Taliban in May, outraging international human rights advocates who pointed to the terrorists’ record of extreme violence against Afghans, particularly women and girls. At the time, European leaders insisted that talking to the Taliban about how to address Afghans whose asylum applications to the EU were rejected was necessary for the security of the continent. They also asserted that engaging with the Taliban did not necessarily represent an acceptance of the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Most countries around the world and the United Nations do not recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan despite the gang wielding uncontested power over the country for nearly five years.
Hasht-e Subh reported on Saturday that it had obtained a letter formally inviting the Taliban’s foreign affairs spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi to Brussels, Belgium, where the EU headquarters are located.
“The letter, signed by the Deputy Director-General for International Affairs and Migration at the European Commission and the Director-General for Legal Affairs at Sweden’s Ministry of Justice, states that the meeting will be held in Brussels on June 22 and 23, 2026,” the Afghan outlet shared, adding, “The discussions will focus on the return and readmission of Afghan citizens who do not have residence rights in European Union (EU) member states and countries within the Schengen Area.”
The Schengen Area is the territory within the EU in which the continental organization allows for free travel without visas or border restrictions. Foreigners must pass through a visa and border control process to enter any Schengen country from outside the area, but once inside do not have to pass through further controls to travel within the 29 countries that make up the space.
The Taliban terrorists invited to the repatriation meeting, Balkhi and two others chosen by the Taliban, will reportedly be processed into the Schengen Area by the government of Belgium, as it hosts the headquarters of the EU. Afghan media reported that this will require a third party outside of the Taliban government, however, expected to be the government of Turkey.
The reported meeting appears to be the result of demands by EU member states to address the large number of Afghan migrants in the continent, many of whom fled the Taliban. An estimated 65 percent of Afghan migrants in Europe seeking asylum receive it, but thousands of those considered ineligible to reside in the EU permanently have been kept in detention centers with no viable way to be returned home.
In October 2025, a group of 19 EU member states, alongside non-member Norway, issued a letter demanding the EU leadership swiftly find a plan to remove Afghan nationals who did not receive asylum from the continent. In addition to Norway, the signatories of the letter were Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Sweden. At the time, according to the Belgian government, European governments were hosting 2,815 Afghan nationals in temporary housing who had already had their asylum requests rejected and should legally be deported. The letter demanded some engagement of the Taliban for the purpose of returning Afghans home.
“Without comprehensive returns, every asylum and migration policy fails. The EU must send a clear message: those who are not entitled to protection or residency in Europe and, in the process, threaten our society must return,” Belgian Minister for Asylum and Migration Anneleen Van Bossuyt said at the time, announcing the letter.
Van Bossuyt noted in her remarks that Afghans in 2024 “were the second most likely to have committed serious incidents in our reception centres,” meaning that keeping Afghans deemed unsafe to offer asylum to in the countries involved posed a security risk.
Reports began surfacing in early June of the possibility of direct talks with the Taliban. At the time, EU migration commissioner Magnus Brunner verified that the global organization was looking for ways to communicate with the Taliban that would not validate the terrorist group as a government, but insisted it was impossible to avoid the Taliban entirely.
“It’s no option not to talk to these people in order to improve the situation,” Brunner insisted. “It is important to talk to them at least to improve the situation for Europeans, but also for asylum applicants, for asylum-seekers.”
The EU signed a “Joint Declaration on Migration Cooperation” with Afghanistan in April 2021. According to a formal statement from the EU, the declaration would “help to address irregular migration and promote joint efforts in the fight against migrant smuggling … and will facilitate the sustainable reintegration of people returning to Afghanistan.”
Four months later, the Afghan government that signed that agreement collapsed as the Taliban arrived to the city limits of Kabul, prompting then-President Ashraf Ghani to flee the country. The Taliban launched a campaign to regain control of the country in May 2021 after then-President Joe Biden violated an agreement, brokered during President Donald Trump’s first term, intended to end America’s military presence in the country. Biden abandoned the May 1, 2021, deadline, extending the 20-year Afghan war into September. American troops left the country by August, however, as the Afghan government collapsed in the face of the Taliban’s nationwide sieges.
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