EU says talks with Taliban officials covered return of Afghans

The talks with Afghan government representatives were "strictly operational discussions" on the return of offenders involving Afghans and did not involve concessions to the Taliban administration, European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner said on Wednesday.

"It's not about concessions, no concessions whatsoever," Brunner said at a news conference in Brussels.

A first meeting at the technical level between the two sides was held in Kabul in January, followed by a second meeting on Tuesday in Brussels that focused on the "operational way" to send offenders back to Afghanistan, according to Brunner.

He said 20 EU member states requested that the European Commission coordinate efforts on returns to Afghanistan.

He stressed that the discussions were limited to "practical arrangements" for returns and should be viewed as a normal administrative procedure.

Fifteen EU member states participated in Tuesday's meeting, according to the commissioner.

Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said Kabul hopes "this visit will open new avenues for positive engagement, strengthen efforts for addressing the issues faced by Afghans living abroad, and further expand cooperation based on mutual respect and shared interests."