No one should be sent back to Taliban rule

Nearly five years after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, one issue should be beyond dispute: Afghanistan is not safe for anyone forcibly returned there. Governments are fully aware of this but are still moving toward migration deals and engagement with the Taliban leadership that could send Afghans back into the Taliban nightmare.

Forcing people back to Afghanistan exposes them to a genuine risk of persecution and dire economic circumstances, while bolstering the global standing of the Taliban authorities who are responsible for crimes against humanity.

Afghanistan today is one of the world’s worst human rights crises — and for women and girls, it is a uniquely devastating one. Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are banned from education beyond sixth grade. Women have been pushed out of public life and face severe restrictions in employment. Anyone deemed dissenting from Taliban rule, regardless of their gender, lives under the constant threat of arbitrary detention and torture.

What is most concerning is not only the brutality inside Afghanistan, but the growing willingness of governments to act as though these realities no longer carry consequences. 

On June 22, European Union officials hosted a Taliban delegation in Brussels — for the first time since the 2021 Taliban takeover — to discuss migration and return policies. Germany has already resumed deportations and allows Taliban officials to provide consular services in Berlin and Bonn. Officials in the United Kingdom have signaled that they may be prepared to negotiate with the Taliban over returns, as they watch similar debates unfold elsewhere in........

© The Hill