France confirms talks with Taliban on Afghan deportations

France has confirmed it is holding technical talks with the Taliban to facilitate the deportation of Afghan nationals who are in the country illegally and are considered security threats, joining a broader European push to resume returns to Afghanistan.

A French Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed the discussions Thursday, saying they were intended to protect public safety and were limited to Afghans considered dangerous and subject to removal from France.

“This is a strictly technical dialogue, like that of other European countries, to facilitate the removal of Afghan nationals who are illegally on French territory and who pose a national security risk,” the spokesperson said as quoted by French media.

The ministry said the initiative would not apply to asylum-seekers or women. It did not disclose how many Afghans could be affected and referred questions about the number to the Interior Ministry. AFP quoted a source familiar with the discussions as saying that that the potential number could be in the hundreds.

France has not recognized the Taliban rule since they returned to power in August 2021, and the French Embassy in Afghanistan remains closed. French officials have stressed that the technical contacts do not represent diplomatic recognition of the Taliban.

Asked whether France could allow Taliban representatives into the country to help facilitate deportations, as Germany has done, the Foreign Ministry said no such arrangement was currently in place.

The discussions come as European governments increasingly seek ways to return Afghans who have no legal right to remain in their countries, particularly those convicted of crimes or considered security threats.

In June, officials from the European Commission and 15 EU member states met a five-member Taliban delegation in Brussels to discuss the return of Afghan nationals. Belgium issued visas to the Taliban delegation for the meeting, the first time the European Union had hosted Taliban representatives since their return to power in 2021.

EU officials said the discussions focused on returning Afghans who had committed serious crimes or posed security threats. The meeting, however, drew strong criticism from European lawmakers, Afghan women’s rights advocates and human rights organizations, who argued that hosting Taliban officials risked normalizing relations with authorities responsible for sweeping restrictions on women and girls. The European Union said the talks did not constitute recognition of the Taliban administration.

Human rights groups have also challenged efforts to expand deportations to Afghanistan, arguing that conditions in the country do not allow for safe forced returns. Amnesty International and UN human rights experts have warned against involuntary returns amid continuing reports of arbitrary detention, torture, persecution and other abuses.

Germany, meanwhile, has gone further than many other European countries in resuming deportations to Afghanistan. Berlin restarted deportations in August 2024 and has since established regular returns following technical contacts with the Taliban. German government figures show that 87 people were deported to Afghanistan between Jan. 1 and June 19, 2026.

By early September, Germany had deported 274 people to Afghanistan since resuming the practice in August 2024, according to figures compiled by Amnesty International Germany. Of those, 246 were deported under the current German government. On July 28, Germany deported 31 Afghans, including, for the first time since deportations resumed, a person without a criminal conviction.