Belgium grants single-day visas to Taliban delegation for migrant return talks

Belgium has granted single-day visas to five members of a Taliban delegation invited by the European Commission to attend talks in Brussels on the return of Afghan asylum-seekers, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said on Monday.

The delegation is expected to travel to Brussels for discussions on migration and repatriation issues involving Afghan nationals residing in Europe, according to Belgian public broadcaster VRT.

Prevot said last week that he opposed the European Commission's decision to invite the Taliban but noted that Belgium, as the host country of European Union institutions, could not block invitations issued by the EU.

"As the host country of institutions such as the European Union, Belgium cannot refuse invitations from those institutions to representatives of regimes that it does not itself recognize," he said.

According to the foreign minister, Belgium's State Security Service and military intelligence agency, ADIV, conducted security assessments and found no information suggesting that the visitors posed a threat in Belgium.

The five visas are valid only in Belgium and not across the wider Schengen area. They were issued for a single day, authorities said.
For security reasons, Belgian officials have not disclosed the date of the delegation's visit.