Afghanistan Times
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KABUL — The Taliban said Tuesday it is prepared to hold talks with the United States regarding the return of thousands of Afghan refugees, after Washington announced it will revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans this summer.
In a statement posted to social media, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the group is “ready to engage in constructive dialogue with the US and other countries regarding repatriation of Afghans who no longer meet criteria to remain in host countries.”
The statement came one day after the US Department of Homeland Security said the TPS designation for Afghanistan would expire on May 20, with legal protections formally ending on July 12. The US government cited improved security conditions in Afghanistan as the reason for ending TPS, a decision that could affect over 11,000 Afghan nationals currently residing in the United States.
Balkhi reaffirmed the Taliban’s position that Afghanistan is the rightful home for all Afghans and said those who fled during the fall of Kabul in August 2021 could return safely. “Afghanistan is the shared home of all Afghans, and all have the right to free movement,” he said.
However, human rights organizations and the United Nations continue to raise alarm over the safety of returnees. The UN has documented cases of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, and enforced disappearances. Women and girls have been pushed out of schools, jobs, and public life under Taliban rule, which the UN has labeled a form of “gender apartheid.”
Since April, more than 100,000 Afghans have been expelled from neighboring Pakistan as part of a sweeping deportation campaign. In addition, over 265,000 undocumented Afghans returned from Iran in the first four months of 2025, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Afghanistan remains mired in economic collapse and is facing what the UN calls the world’s second-worst humanitarian crisis, behind only Sudan.
The Biden administration had previously extended protections for Afghan refugees, but under President Donald Trump’s current term, US immigration policy has shifted sharply. The termination of TPS for Afghan nationals follows similar actions against citizens from countries such as Haiti and Venezuela.
Negotiations between Washington and the Taliban—who are still not officially recognized by the US—would mark a rare engagement between the two since the chaotic US withdrawal nearly four years ago.
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