KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Belgium plans to open talks with the Taliban on returning Afghan nationals living illegally in the country or convicted of crimes, the country’s migration minister has said.
Annelien Van Bossuyt, Belgium’s Minister of Asylum and Migration, told Flemish broadcaster VRT that the plan is a “pragmatic choice” and a form of “purely technical cooperation,” emphasizing that it does not indicate normalization of relations with the Taliban.
“This is a regime I absolutely do not support,” she said. “It’s a purely technical collaboration to explore how we can identify and deport illegal Afghans and those who have committed crimes, because they often lack documentation.”
According to the report, her office said Afghans are among the nationalities submitting the largest number of asylum applications in Belgium, but fewer than half have been approved. Deportations have so far been blocked due to the absence of diplomatic relations with Afghanistan.
Van Bossuyt said she has been in contact with the European Commissioner for Migration to coordinate the return of Afghans at the European Union level and to seek backing from other member states. “Many EU countries face serious challenges in returning Afghan migrants, and it is time to break this deadlock through a joint coalition,” she said.
Other European countries, including Germany and Switzerland, have recently resumed deportations of Afghans convicted of serious crimes. Germany, with support from Qatar, has conducted several deportation flights since the Taliban’s return to power, including the removal of 28 convicted criminals in August 2024 and 81 men convicted of various offences in July that year.
However, human rights groups and the United Nations have criticized the deportations, warning that returnees may face persecution or abuse under Taliban rule. In July, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said forced returns to Afghanistan are creating a “multi-layered human rights crisis” and urged an immediate halt to forced returns, especially those at risk of persecution, arbitrary detention, or torture upon their return.
