“EU countries are undermining their credibility by condemning Taliban abuses and pursuing accountability on one hand, while cooperating with the Taliban to forcibly return Afghans on the other,” said Fereshta Abbasi of Human Rights Watch.
European governments shut their embassies in Kabul when the Taliban authorities returned to power in 2021 and imposed their strict interpretation of Islamic law.
This month the European Union’s migration chief Magnus Brunner defended the outreach, saying Brussels had no other option than to talk to the Taliban government about returning irregular migrants from Afghanistan.
European governments have sought a tougher stance on migration as public opinion has hardened, fuelling far-right electoral gains across the continent.
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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.
Around 20 of the EU’s 27 member states expressed interest in returning some migrants without a right to stay, particularly those with criminal convictions, to Afghanistan in a letter last year.
“The focus for member states is very much on persons who have committed serious crimes or who pose a security threat,” commission spokesperson Markus Lammert told journalists on Monday.
Rights groups have questioned the legality and ethics of returning migrants to a country that is in the midst of a severe humanitarian crisis, with millions facing hunger and economic hardship, according to the United Nations.
