The EU is facing a backlash for inviting officials from the Taliban to Brussels for talks around the forcible return of unsuccessful asylum-seekers to Afghanistan.

The European Commission has confirmed that it is working with the Swedish authorities to host technical meetings with a delegation from the group in the Belgian capital this summer, with dates yet to be finalised.

It would be the first time the EU has hosted officials from the Islamist militant group since it captured Kabul by force in August 2021. Russia is currently the only country in the world that formally recognises the Taliban administration in Afghanistan, despite the organisation’s concerted efforts in pursuit of international validation.

The last time a European country hosted a Taliban delegation for talks with humanitarian organisations – in Oslo, Norway – it was met with protests.

Markus Lammert, a spokesperson for the EU Commission, told The Independent that the talks would focus on an initiative launched by 20 EU member states last October to deport migrants back to Afghanistan if they are deemed ineligible to stay in the Schengen area because they present a security risk.

He said a letter had been sent by EU immigration authorities and the Swedish justice ministry “to the de facto authorities in Afghanistan to inquire about the availability for a meeting at technical level here in Brussels”.

“It is merely a response to an initiative by 20 member states and Schengen associated countries in October last year. Ministers of the EU member states want to focus on the return of persons who have no right to stay in the Union and who pose a security threat,” he said, adding that this was not at the behest of the EU Commission itself.

This does not mean the EU is recognising the Taliban regime as the official government of Afghanistan, he added.

Roughly 65 per cent of Afghans are successful in asking for asylum in Europe, according to the EU Agency for Asylum.

But the move to deport the remaining 35 per cent back to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan has been met with outrage among rights groups and some EU lawmakers, who criticised hosting Taliban officials in Brussels as going against the bloc’s values.

"Inviting a Taliban delegation to Brussels to discuss migration is a betrayal of our values. The Taliban receive the privilege of dealmaking with the entire European Union and some seem fine with it,” said Raquel García Hermida-Van Der Walle, a Renew Europe MEP from the Netherlands.

She added that it was important for Europe to tackle the issue of migration, so “is maintaining a minimum of decency and standards”.

“Europeans died to give women and girls their rights. So no, don't legitimise the Taliban – ever. Those who carry out crimes against humanity should never set foot on European soil without passing through the International Criminal Court in The Hague first,” she said at a briefing on Wednesday.

In July last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for the Taliban’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and the head of Afghanistan’s supreme court Abdul Hakim Haqqani on charges of persecuting women and girls since the group took power in Kabul almost five years ago.

The Taliban had condemned the warrants as an example of hostility towards Islam, calling it “nonsense”. "We neither recognise anything by the name of an international court nor do we consider ourselves bound by it," the Taliban government's spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid had said.

It was not immediately clear if the Taliban delegation would include officials sanctioned by the European Union and its member states. On being asked who will pay for the Taliban delegation’s tickets to Brussels, Mr Lammert said the EU Commission has “not reached that stage yet” and was still enquiring about the Taliban’s availability for the talks via the letter.

“I asked the Commission how it can justify such a move, given that the UN considers these returns a violation of international law and the #CJEU has ruled against the deportation of any #AfghanWoman,” said Pina Picierno, vice president of the European Parliament.

Ms Picierno has filed a written question to the Commission over the decision to extend an invite.

“Striking a deal with the Taliban goes well beyond mere operational contacts: it amounts to a de facto recognition of a persecutory regime that commits crimes against humanity towards women and girls,” she said.

Hannah Neumann, another member of the EU Parliament, said that there should be no meetings with the Taliban leaders as long as they continue to “violate human rights, impose gender apartheid and fuel extremism”.

“We debate the brutal repression of women and of society in Afghanistan here for the umpteenth time. Nobody can claim not to know. And yet at the same time, the Commission invites the Taliban for the deportation talks – technical talks,” she said, referring to the term given to engagement with the Taliban leaders.

“But there is nothing "technical" about opening doors to extremists while those who fought these extremists are stuck in Afghanistan, Iran or Turkey, waiting years for visa appointments,” Ms Neumann said.

She expressed alarm that Taliban officials are now in charge of Afghan consulates in Germany as if "it was the most normal thing in the world".

The Taliban has yet to confirm its involvement in the Brussels visit or respond to criticism of the engagement with the EU Commission.