European Union officials are set to host a senior Taliban delegation in the coming days for talks on cooperation and trust-building, including possible consular services for Afghans in the EU. It is the first time since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 that some of its senior figures have been allowed into the EU to meet bloc officials.
Taliban spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said in a statement that the agenda includes discussions on the possible resumption of consular services for Afghans in the EU, a consular presence, and the need for confidence-building measures. The visit became possible after Belgium’s foreign ministry issued one-day entry visas to the Taliban representatives so they could meet EU officials in Brussels.
The talks have drawn strong criticism from human rights groups and some members of the European Parliament, who say meeting Taliban officials would normalize a regime that has violated human rights, especially women’s rights, since reclaiming power in 2021. Two senior Taliban leaders are wanted by the International Criminal Court, which has accused them of crimes against humanity over the persecution of women and girls. The EU has also imposed sanctions on several people linked to the Taliban regime.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by Taliban members when she was 15, said, “The Taliban have erased women and girls from public life. I am deeply shocked and disturbed.” EU lawmaker Juan Fernando López Aguilar of the Socialist Workers’ Party called the planned meeting “an absolute scandal” and a “complete loss of trust and credibility” for the EU, asking how it could apply such a double standard.
