KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The newspaper The Telegraph has reported that British officials have held talks with the Taliban regarding the deportation of Afghan migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected.
Abdul Mateen Qani, the spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior, said that discussions and meetings with British officials on this issue have taken place in Kabul.
These negotiations were revealed at a time when Shabana Mahmood, the UK Home Secretary, said that the country is considering the possibility of talks with the Taliban regarding the deportation of migrants to Afghanistan, and discussions on this issue are taking place at the domestic level.
She added that Britain is also monitoring the actions of other European countries in this regard and will continue to do so.
According to The Telegraph, when Ms. Mahmood was asked whether she would rule out negotiations on migrant deportations, she stated that she neither confirmed nor denied such discussions and declined to comment on internal government deliberations.
However, the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior spokesperson said that discussions on the issue are ongoing and that they welcome engagement with all sides. He added that negotiations with the British government are underway, British delegations occasionally visit Kabul for talks, and further visits are expected soon.
He also stated that the Taliban have not imposed any conditions for accepting returning asylum seekers and have rejected any linkage of migrant returns with formal recognition or financial demands.
Abdul Mateen Qani further explained that it is clear that Britain intends to return Afghan nationals to their country of origin, which he described as their homeland. He added that if Britain or any other country decides to send Afghans back, they would be accepted and welcomed without any conditions related to recognition or other political issues.
Britain does not currently recognize the Taliban government and therefore cannot forcibly deport migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected back to Afghanistan.
Last year, Britain rejected asylum applications from 7,330 Afghan asylum seekers, including 1,670 who entered the country via small boats through the English Channel.
However, only 135 people have been forcibly or voluntarily deported, while thousands of others remain in Britain, either continuing asylum claims or pursuing appeals.
European countries are trying to find a way to deport migrants whose applications have been rejected back to Afghanistan.
They have recently increased efforts to engage with the Taliban on this issue, and it has been reported that a Taliban technical delegation is expected to travel to Brussels and the European Commission in the coming weeks for further talks.
These developments highlight the growing complexity of migration policy between Europe and Afghanistan, particularly given the lack of formal recognition of the Taliban government and ongoing international concerns regarding human rights, legal responsibility, and the conditions under which returns of rejected asylum seekers could take place.
Reports from human rights groups and returning migrants suggest that some Afghans who have been sent back to Afghanistan have faced detention, interrogation, and, in certain cases, mistreatment by Taliban authorities, particularly if they are suspected of having links to foreign governments, media, or civil society organizations.
These concerns raise serious questions in the context of the reported talks between Britain and the Taliban on deportations, as the safety and treatment of returnees remain uncertain.
Amid these discussions, in a related development, a recent report by Rawadari found that at least 617 people were killed and 537 wounded across Afghanistan in 2025, marking an increase of more than 50 percent compared to the previous year.
The report attributed the 1,154 total casualties to a range of factors, including targeted and suicide attacks, Pakistani airstrikes, landmines, and unexploded remnants of war, with victims spanning civilians such as women, children, journalists, activists, and former government employees.
While Taliban officials, including Abdul Mateen Qani, have publicly stated that returnees will be welcomed without conditions, past incidents indicate that the situation on the ground can differ, creating a gap between official assurances and reported realities. This discrepancy is likely to remain a key concern for European countries as they consider policies for returning rejected asylum seekers to Afghanistan.
