EU to Hold Talks With Islamic Emirate on Return of Afghan Migrants

The European Commission has confirmed that it will soon invite officials of the Islamic Emirate to Brussels for technical talks on the return of Afghan migrants.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that a letter will soon be sent to Kabul to determine the date of the meeting.

The meeting is being coordinated by Sweden and is part of efforts by 20 European countries to return Afghan migrants — especially individuals with criminal records — to Afghanistan.

Part of the AFP report states: “Officials are now working on a potential follow-up meeting at technical level in Brussels with the de-facto authorities in Afghanistan. No specific date has yet been raised for the visit.”

Bilal Omar, an international relations analyst, said: “Migration is a global phenomenon, and citizens migrate from one country to another for various reasons. When they face problems while living in another country, those issues should be resolved through cooperation between countries.”

The report noted that the talks are technical in nature and do not amount to European recognition of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Sayed Zia Hossaini, another international relations analyst, said: “Although these agreements are technical, they still carry political dimensions, and technical cooperation can lead to political cooperation.”

According to European Union statistics, EU member states received nearly one million asylum applications from Afghans between 2013 and 2024.

Most recently, Germany deported 25 people to Kabul at the end of April.

Meanwhile, since 2023, more than five million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan to Afghanistan, many of them through forced deportations.