Eurasia Review, 19 May 2026
A theory-heavy but still very comprehensive and interesting look at what the author – Abdul Wasi Popalzay, a doctoral researcher in Political Science and International Relations at the Central University of Punjab, India – describes as a descent from “principled pragmatism, maintaining normative rhetoric and institutionalized conditionality while strategically adapting to material necessities of humanitarian crisis management, migration control, and security cooperation” (2021) via “containment without engagement” (2023) into “transactional realism” and “normalization by stealth” (currently). He concludes that “the legislative expression of this shift emerged through the EU Migration and Asylum Pact, adopted in June 2024 and entering into force on 12 June 2026” introducing “mechanisms such as offshore ‘return hubs’, expanded lists of safe countries of origin,” not (yet?) including Afghanistan, “and accelerated deportation procedures.” In Afghanistan’s case, this culminates in so-called (by the EU and member states) “technical engagement” with the Taleban authorities, the same the EU parliament accuses of ‘gender apartheid.’ In this patterns, the author sees “that migration control considerations had consistently taken precedence over humanitarian concerns.”
Revisions:
This article was last updated on 21 May 2026
