EU faces fierce criticism over plans to host Taliban in Brussels

In 2024, the Taliban banned women from speaking or showing their faces outside their home. Photograph: Sanaullah Seiam/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen In 2024, the Taliban banned women from speaking or showing their faces outside their home. Photograph: Sanaullah Seiam/AFP/Getty Images EU faces fierce criticism over plans to host Taliban in Brussels Rights campaigners and MEPs say meeting would normalise regime that erases women from public life 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. Taliban order ban on smartphones as officials shown destroying devices Read more 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. “It’s absolutely an outrage and a total loss of faith and the credibility of the European Union that it can hold such a double standard.” View image in fullscreen Socialist MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar said: ‘It’s absolutely an outrage and a total loss of faith and the credibility of the European Union that it can hold such a double standard.’ Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images Two senior Taliban leaders are subject to arrest warrants issued by the international criminal court , which has accused them of crimes against humanity for the persecution of women and girls. The EU has imposed sanctions on several individuals associated with the regime. In May, a spokesperson for the European Commission said the meeting with the Taliban had been coordinated with Sweden after 20 member states had called for concrete pathways to deport Afghans without legal residence permits or who are deemed a security risk. The talks would be focused on how to return those who “pose a security threat” to the EU, said the spokesperson. Two killed in rare street demonstration over women’s rights in Afghanistan Read more The rationale was rejected by López Aguilar, who instead accused the EU of allowing the far right and its rhetoric around immigration to set the agenda. “We’re 450 million people all together. There’s no reason to panic when you talk about a cer