A Widening Moral Rift: The Complex Interactions between EU Externalization and Afghan Border Ecosystems

Abstract

The European Union has worked with non-EU countries, including Afghanistan, to manage migration from that country since 2015. EU policies regarding Afghan migration aim, in part, to change a migration dynamic in which smugglers have played a key role. This approach was maintained even in the immediate aftermath of the return of the Taliban in 2021 and was mainstreamed into EU humanitarian efforts. Here, we argue that current efforts at so-called border externalization have contributed to a moral rift between the EU and Afghan smugglers, one in which the smugglers develop moral justifications for their work. We show that the EU’s short-term gains with regard to lower arrival numbers have come at the expense of developing a sense of legitimacy for their migration principles, governance, and infrastructure among the Afghan people over the long term. The widening moral rift between Afghan smugglers and EU policymakers is likely to bolster an existing migration infrastructure that provides a logic for grassroots resistance.