The Coming Afghan Refugee Crisis Is Only a Preview

Two developments over the past week are harbingers of a storm that may test Western democracy to destruction. First, the imminent collapse of the Afghan state risks sending a massive new wave of migrants towards Europe. Second, the sixth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presents evidence that within the next few decades—not the next century—the effects of climate change may be such as to help destroy several vulnerable and heavily-populated states.

A row of state failures like that of Afghanistan would lead to increases in migrant numbers on a scale that Western democracies could not absorb without ensuring their own collapse. The case of Afghanistan illustrates some of the moral dilemmas and practical difficulties involved in the question of accepting migrants on a mass scale. The West has no choice but to consider possible answers—because the question isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Two developments over the past week are harbingers of a storm that may test Western democracy to destruction. First, the imminent collapse of the Afghan state risks sending a massive new wave of migrants towards Europe. Second, the sixth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presents evidence that within the next few decades—not the next century—the effects of climate change may be such as to help destroy several vulnerable and heavily-populated states.

Read the full article in Foreign Policy