EU to hold migration meeting with Taliban officials in Brussels

Belgium has issued five visas to a Taliban delegation to attend a European Union meeting on migration in Brussels and discuss the deportation of Afghan asylum seekers from European nations. The meeting, expected to take place on Tuesday, will be the first time the EU has hosted the group since it returned to power in Afghanistan almost five years ago. Recommended Stories list of 3 items end of list A spokesperson from the Belgian Foreign Ministry told reporters that the five visas were granted on Monday after a security assessment and that they are valid for Belgium for one day only. The European Commission said it has invited the Taliban officials for discussions on irregular migration from Afghanistan to the 27-member bloc, and to also discuss the deportation of Afghan people in the EU who have had their asylum applications rejected. The EU has not identified which Taliban representatives were invited to the meeting. Several senior Taliban leaders are also under EU sanctions. “Member States are looking into ways to return persons who have committed serious crimes and who are possibly a security threat. So this is the initiative that the Commission is now following up on,” Commission spokesman Markus Lammert told the EU’s daily news briefing on Monday. …