KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch, has criticized European engagement with the Taliban over the deportation of Afghan migrants, calling it “the height of hypocrisy” to condemn Taliban abuses while simultaneously cooperating in returning migrants to territory under the group’s control.
Abbasi made the remarks in an opinion article published by The Hill, arguing that no one should be deported to territory governed by the Taliban because of the serious risk of persecution, torture and other human rights abuses.
Abbasi noted that the European Union, led by the UN Human Rights Council, has established an investigative mechanism to collect and preserve evidence of serious abuses by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
She also welcomed an initiative by Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and Canada to pursue accountability against the Taliban for violations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
At the same time, she pointed to efforts by European countries and the United States to cooperate with the Taliban on the deportation of Afghan migrants to Afghanistan.
Abbasi cited the European Commission’s hosting of a Taliban delegation in Brussels on June 22 and Germany’s acceptance of two Taliban diplomats. She said the United Kingdom was also pursuing a similar policy.
She further said the United States had placed around 1,100 Afghan asylum seekers stranded at a camp in Qatar under pressure to either return to Afghanistan or be transferred to an unspecified destination.
“But it’s the height of hypocrisy to condemn Taliban abuses in one breath and cooperate in sending people back to them in the next,” Abbasi said.
She warned that migration agreements could ease pressure on the Taliban over their continued human rights abuses.
According to Abbasi, this type of “technical” engagement sends a dangerous message to any “abusive government” that no level of human rights violations or oppression will prevent other countries from doing business with it, even at the expense of those affected.
Abbasi stressed the principle of non-refoulement, under which people should not be sent to a place where they would face persecution, torture or other serious harm. She argued that no Afghan migrant should therefore be returned to Afghanistan while it remains under Taliban rule.
To illustrate the risks faced by returnees, the article recounts the testimony of a former Afghan security officer who fled to Pakistan and was later deported to Afghanistan.
He said Taliban members concealed their faces and beat him every night. According to his account, they would take him from his cell, put him in a vehicle and tell him they were taking him to a “death place.” He said he spent two months expecting to be killed every night.
Abbasi warned that this could be the fate of any migrant deported to Afghanistan under the guise of “technical engagement” with the Taliban.
Her comments come amid growing international debate over how governments should balance engagement with Afghanistan’s de facto authorities against concerns over human rights, accountability and the safety of Afghans returned to the country.
Over the past two years, several EU countries — including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, and the Netherlands — have held meetings with Taliban delegations, often justified as necessary to facilitate the deportation of Afghan migrants. Germany has conducted multiple chartered deportation flights to Kabul in recent months, sending back dozens of Afghans convicted of crimes.
Germany was among the first European countries to engage with the Taliban and accepted two Taliban diplomats at the Afghan Embassy in Berlin and the Afghan Consulate in Bonn as “technical staff” to help facilitate deportations.
Reports have now emerged suggesting that these two Taliban representatives not only control Afghanistan’s embassy and consulate but also prevented a deportation flight from taking off last week in an attempt to “blackmail” Germany.
Meanwhile, the European Union has increasingly engaged with the Taliban on migration and the return of Afghan nationals, despite not formally recognizing the Taliban authorities. In June 2026, EU officials held their first direct talks with a Taliban delegation in Brussels, with discussions focused on the return of Afghans who do not have the right to remain in Europe, including some considered security risks or convicted of serious crimes.
The EU has described the engagement as technical and related to migration management, while Taliban officials have also raised issues including consular services and the establishment of diplomatic channels.
The talks have drawn strong criticism from human rights organizations and European lawmakers, who warn that cooperation on deportations could contribute to the normalization of the Taliban and expose Afghans to persecution, torture or other abuses after return.
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women and girls, including bans on secondary and higher education and limits on employment and public life. Human rights groups and UN experts have described the measures as amounting to “gender apartheid.”
