When news broke that members of the Taliban visited Brussels in late June to discuss migration with European Union officials, Sami Samar said she was left crestfallen.
“I was so disappointed because we really count on European countries as they believe the principle of human rights and the universality of human rights,” she tells Euronews.
“This is kind of (an) endorsement of the Taliban, even if it's low rank of the Taliban.”
Samar, a former Afghan minister for women’s affairs from 2001 to 2002 turned human rights advocate living in exile in the United States, made the comments in the days leading up to 15 August 2026.
This is five years since the Taliban established itself as the de facto government of Afghanistan, which only Russia formally recognises. This date also marks the beginning of when the US withdrew its troops from the landlocked South Asian country after maintaining a presence there for nearly 20 years.
