The Taliban Are Using Europe's Fear of Migrants to Their Advantage

Elian Peltier reported from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Doha, Qatar. Jim Tankersley reported from Berlin.

Governments in Europe have long shunned the Taliban, primarily because of their severe restrictions on women and girls. But under pressure to appear tougher on migration, they are deporting refugees to Afghanistan, and in recent months have been negotiating with the Taliban to make more expulsions possible.

At a meeting in Brussels in late June, more than 20 European officials met with five Taliban representatives to discuss deportations, breaking a taboo against holding talks with the group in the European Union.

The Europeans never mentioned human rights abuses committed by the Taliban, according to three participants and three other officials briefed on the meeting.

The details of the meeting are being reported here for the first time. This article is based on information from the German foreign ministry, along with interviews with seven other diplomats, including five representing European countries, and two Afghan government officials, all of whom requested anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.

Afghanistan has for years been one of the main sources of unauthorized migrants to Europe, and the European governments in talks with the Taliban insist they are solely technical and limited to expulsions. But many human rights groups say that the deportation drive ignores the risks faced by Afghans back home.

"The European Union cannot credibly condemn the Taliban's systematic repression while engaging with them to deport Afghans into the very abuses they claim to oppose," said Fereshta Abbasi, the Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch.

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