Abstract
This chapter sketches Afghanistan’s long, large-scale and diverse history of migration patterns of which migration to and return from Europe is only a small part. The case of Afghanistan is a relevant case study of the complex relationship between migration, conflict, development and return, for various reasons. First, Afghanistan’s protracted history of conflict and migration shows how the globally changing political discourses of the past decades have shaped migration strategies. Second, two major trigger events of this shifting discourse, the Cold War and the events of 11 September 2001, played a direct and crucial role in the history of Afghanistan. Third, the fact that in 2015, Afghans comprised the second largest group of asylum seekers, makes it again a relevant and timely case to focus on.
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Notes
- 1.
The Warsaw pact was a collective defence treaty among eight communist states who pledged the mutual defence of any member who was attacked.
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van Houte, M. (2016). Afghanistan. In: Return Migration to Afghanistan. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40775-3_2
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