An Afghan Taliban delegation met EU officials in Brussels on Tuesday for the first time, an event rights groups denounced as legitimising the Islamists but the EU has defended as a step ​towards making it ‌easier to repatriate failed asylum seekers. The EU is hosting Taliban officials after Belgium granted temporary visas for talks on returning failed Afghan asylum-seekers. Key points and original sources are listed below.

• An Afghan Taliban delegation met EU officials in Brussels on Tuesday for the first time, an event rights groups denounced as legitimising the Islamists but the EU has defended as a step ​towards making it ‌easier to repatriate failed asylum seekers.S1

• The EU is hosting Taliban officials after Belgium granted temporary visas for talks on returning failed Afghan asylum-seekers. The meeting is one of the bloc's highest-level contacts with the Taliban since 2021.S2