Mosaic Global Foundation has added its signature to this open letter alongside civil society leaders and policymakers. We do so out of concern that short-term migration measures risk undermining long-term stability and human rights. Sustainable solutions must be grounded in inclusion, accountability, and legitimate governance.
Ms. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
Mr. António Costa, President of the European Council
Ms. Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament
Ms. Kaja Kallas, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Open Letter to the European Union
23 April 2026
To the Esteemed Representatives of the European Union,
We, the undersigned civil society representatives and political leaders from across Afghanistan, write with urgency to express our profound alarm at the reported plan to invite Taliban officials to Brussels for talks on the deportation of nationals from Afghanistan.
We share Europe’s genuine concerns about irregular migration and understand the political pressures that European governments face. However, the approach now being contemplated will not solve those concerns—it will only make them worse.
Europe has long stood as a beacon of human rights and democratic values. Those who have sought refuge in European countries did so in large part because they believed in those values and sought protection from those who reject them. We urge the EU not to allow short-term migration management pressures to compromise the principled framework that gives European diplomacy its moral authority—and ultimately, its effectiveness.
Civilians have been fleeing Afghanistan in record numbers not because of a lack of deportation agreements, but because of the conditions imposed by the Taliban. Mass displacement is the direct consequence of Taliban policies and extremist ideology: the systematic erasure of women from public life, the elimination of basic freedoms, political exclusion, and the rampant use of violence and terror.
No deportation arrangement with the Taliban will change these underlying realities. Ignoring root causes will not reduce migration; it will entrench the very conditions that drive it. People who are returned to Afghanistan will face the same conditions that forced them to flee. Without a political solution that creates an inclusive and representative government, migration flows will only intensify.
Hosting Taliban officials in Brussels will not reduce the pressure to migrate—it will reduce the pressure on the Taliban. Instead of addressing the underlying issues, it will exacerbate them. An invitation to Brussels signals to the de facto authorities that they can continue to deny the women and men of Afghanistan their fundamental rights while still receiving international diplomatic hospitality.
Such a move will be used domestically and regionally by the Taliban as evidence of growing legitimacy, rewarding precisely the conduct that the EU has consistently condemned. Rather than incentivising reform, it removes one of the few remaining levers of accountability.
This approach is also inconsistent with the EU’s own established policy. Following the Taliban’s seizure of power in August 2021, EU Foreign Ministers agreed on five benchmarks that must be met before substantive engagement could be extended. None of these benchmarks has been met.
On the contrary, over the past five years, the Taliban has deepened its repression: excluding women and girls from public life, suppressing freedom of speech and assembly, and consolidating a government that excludes other political actors, ethnic groups, and women. Hosting the Taliban in Brussels directly contradicts the EU’s own framework and renders these benchmarks ineffective as a tool of leverage.
We recognise that the EU is not alone in facing difficult choices on Afghanistan, and we do not ask Europe to ignore the realities of migration management. However, there is a more effective path.
The EU should make clear that any substantive engagement with the Taliban—including on migration—is contingent upon progress toward the five benchmarks. Rather than rewarding the Taliban with a Brussels visit, the EU should exert its considerable political and economic leverage to demand a genuine political negotiation—one that includes representatives of all of Afghanistan’s communities, including women, ethnic groups, civil society, and the democratic opposition.
Only through such an inclusive political process, and a transformation of the current political ecosystem in Afghanistan, can stable governance be achieved and displacement addressed at its source.
We therefore call upon the European Union to:
(i) Refrain from hosting Taliban officials in Brussels or extending comparable diplomatic recognition under the pretext of migration or refugee policy until the Taliban demonstrates credible progress toward the EU’s five benchmarks, as agreed by the Foreign Affairs Council in September 2021;
(ii) Use its full diplomatic and economic leverage to press the Taliban to enter into a genuine political negotiation with Afghanistan’s diverse political actors, civil society, and women’s representatives—making clear that normalisation of relations, including on migration, is conditional upon such progress;
(iii) Support initiatives that promote inclusive dialogue and the establishment of a legitimate and representative political order in Afghanistan.
We remain committed to engaging with EU stakeholders to provide solution-oriented perspectives and recommendations.
Sincerely,
Nasir Andisha, Center for Dialogue, Peace and Human Rights – Geneva
H.E. Manizha Bakhtari, Ambassador of Afghanistan to Austria
Khandan Danish, Afghanistan International TV
Raila Dostum, Dostum Foundation
Parasto Hakim, HELP Association
Abdullah Khenjani, Political Committee of National Resistance Front
Masooma Khawari, Former Minister and Human Rights Activist
Fawzia Koofi, Women for Afghanistan
Nigara Mirdad, Afghanistan Women's Diplomatic Network
Dauod Naji, Political Committee of the Freedom Front of Afghanistan
Nargis Negan, Farageer
Zalmai Nishat, Mosaic Foundation
Khalid Pashtun, Former Member of Parliament
Wazhma Tokhi, Youth Advocate for Women and Quality Education
Aliya Yilmaz, Assistant Professor at Suleyman Demirel University, Turkey
Afghan Women's Freedom & Thought Foundation
Afghan Women's History Transformation Movement
Afghanistan Women's Light of Freedom Movement
Afghanistan Women's New Future Movement
Afghanistan Women's Organization for Equality
Afghanistan Women’s Solidarity Movement
Progressive Forces of Afghanistan Movement
Spontaneous Movement of Protesting Women in Afghanistan
Women Aid Afghanistan
Women’s Justice Movement
Women's Freedom Organization
Women Movement for Peace and Freedom
CC:
EU Special Envoy for Afghanistan
Ambassadors of the EU Political and Security Committee