The European Commission said Tuesday it has invited Taliban officials to Brussels for talks on returning migrants to Afghanistan — pushing back at criticism of a move fraught with practical and ethical concerns.

EU migration officials, in coordination with member state Sweden, sent a letter to Taliban authorities Tuesday morning to seek to set a date for a meeting in the Belgian capital.

The 27-nation bloc does not formally recognise the Taliban administration, which has been largely isolated on the global stage since it imposed a strict version of Islamic law upon returning to power in 2021.

‘This does not by any means constitute a recognition,’ said commission spokesman Markus Lammert, who characterised the meeting as a ‘follow-up’ to two rounds of ‘technical’ talks by EU and Taliban officials in Afghanistan.

But the move drew swift pushback from migrant advocates and the political left, with Green EU lawmaker Melissa Camara warning the commission ‘not to cross this red line’.

Hosting Taliban officials in Brussels, Camara said, would amount to ‘abandoning the values and rights on which the European Union is founded.’

As part of a broader tightening of immigration policies, around 20 of the EU’s 27 member states are exploring how to return migrants — particularly those with criminal convictions — to Afghanistan.

In a letter in October, several urged the EU to find diplomatic and practical ways to move the issue forward.

‘We’re speaking here about persons who pose a security threat. These are the persons that member states want to return,’ Lammert said.

Migrant advocates say the returns push raises serious ethical questions, coming as Afghanistan confronts a severe humanitarian crisis.

Since 2023, more than five million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan, often forcibly. According to international organisations, most live in extreme hardship, without stable housing or employment.

‘Deporting Afghans back to a country where almost half of the population cannot feed themselves is not a migration policy; it is a decision that could cost lives,’ says Lisa Owen, the International Rescue Committee’s country director for Afghanistan.

There are also practical questions: to travel to Brussels, Taliban officials would need to be granted an exceptional visa.

Contacted by AFP, Belgium’s foreign ministry said it would in principle be ready to do so, in its capacity as host country to the European institutions.

The commission declined to say who, specifically, would be invited on the Taliban side, and who would foot the bill.

EU countries received about a million asylum applications filed by Afghans between 2013 and 2024, according to the bloc’s data agency. About half as many were approved over the period.

In 2025, Afghans still — by far — accounted for the largest share of asylum applicants in the EU.

But as the public mood has soured on migration, Europe has looked to scale back its welcome and started discussing how to send Afghan migrants back home.

Some countries have pushed ahead, with Germany deporting more than 100 Afghans with criminal convictions since 2024, via charter flights facilitated by Qatar.

Attitudes in the country have been hardened by several fatal attacks by Afghans in recent years, including a car-ramming in Munich last year.

Austria has followed suit, receiving a delegation of Taliban representatives in Vienna in mid-September.

A number of other EU member states, including Belgium and Sweden, are looking to emulate their example, with enthusiastic backing from migration hawks.

Among their concerns, migrant rights groups fear that inviting Taliban officials to Europe could allow them to identify individuals they want returned to Afghanistan, potentially putting them at risk.

Several diplomatic sources contacted by AFP counter that the visit is first and foremost intended to resolve practical issues — such as how to issue passports to people whose embassies in Europe are not recognised by the Taliban authorities.

During their trips to Afghanistan, European officials similarly looked into the handling capacity of Kabul airport and other technical details, according to sources close to the talks.