EU faces fierce criticism over plans to host Taliban in Brussels

EU officials are facing fierce criticism over plans to host the Taliban in Brussels on Tuesday, with rights campaigners and MEPs warning that the meeting risks normalising a regime that has banned girls from school beyond the sixth grade and sought to erase women from public life, while its ranks include two leaders accused of crimes against humanity. The Belgian foreign ministry said on Monday it had issued five single-day visas to a Taliban delegation to attend a meeting in Brussels. Sources told the Guardian the meeting was expected to take place on Tuesday. The meeting comes weeks after the commission confirmed that it has been in talks with the Taliban since January to discuss how to scale up the deportation of Afghan migrants. The willingness of EU officials to cooperate with the Taliban – who in 2024 banned women from speaking or showing their faces outside their home – contrasts sharply with the messaging of the European parliament, where MEPs have repeatedly backed resolutions condemning the regime , said the Socialist MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar. “I’m appalled,” he said. …