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Why at-risk Afghans have a right of admission to EU member states
By: []
Date: 2021-09
Reactions across European states to the takeover of power by the Taliban in Afghanistan are markedly ambivalent. Politicians admit failing to speedily process admission for those Afghan employees who worked directly for European governments, while warning against irregular migration flows from Afghanistan and a repeat of the so-called 'open-door' policies seen in 2015.
The fact that people flee military interventions and wars is unavoidable. What must be avoided, however, is the collapse of the asylum systems of EU member states and the shameful lack of financial support to third countries catering for refugees. Indeed, the more than 10,000 drowned refugees in the Mediterranean since 2015 must not be repeated – and there is an obvious solution: the establishment of legal and safe pathways to Europe for Afghans in need of protection.
Entangled sovereignty
Perhaps even more clearly than in other conflicts, the war in Afghanistan demonstrates how closely the exercise of sovereign powers by European states is entangled with the lives of the local population. Military intervention by one state in another state is the exercise of a state’s sovereign powers, irrespective of whether that intervention is contrary to or in accordance with international law.
Essentially in pursuit of specific security interests, EU member states, after the USA, provided by far the largest part of military troops in Afghanistan. In his speech at the German parliament in 2002, for example, Peter Struck, former German minister of defence, justified the mandate for the deployment of the German army with the assertion that “Germany's security today is also being defended in the Hindu Kush”.
Entanglement on several levels
When the Western coalition bombed Kabul on the basis of a Security Council mandate in September 2001 and subsequently invaded with ground troops, the number of Afghan refugees increased significantly.
On another, more complex level, the employment of European military personnel would have been “impossible and hopeless from the outset” without the support of Afghans. European military officers relied on Afghan interpreters to communicate with the population, Afghan security forces and local politicians. Likewise, the maintenance of infrastructure and food supply depended on Afghan merchants, cleaning workers and craftsmen. It is not only difficult to wage war on an empty stomach, but also when latrines are not emptied by local employees.
Moreover, the security interests of European states in Afghanistan were not only enforced by tanks. Struck made it clear in the same 2002 speech that “the creation of conditions for economic development and societal democratisation is essential for succeeding in the fight against international terrorism.” The European Union was engaged directly in nation-building processes through its military and civilian missions, and the European Union Police Mission was one of the largest police missions deployed to Afghanistan. These missions might also have been promoting Europe’s values through ‘democratization’ beyond European borders. The work of the various European development organizations also depended on the cooperation and labour of tens of thousands of Afghan employees. In addition to those Afghans directly employed, there were many who worked on projects financed by European development funds, also aimed at realising European security interests.
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