Migrant Smuggling as ‘Business’: Exploration the Process of Smuggling of Economic Migrants from Afghanistan to Iran

Migrant smuggling is one of the phenomena that has attracted the attention of many governments, policymakers and scholars over the past decades. However, due to the methodological limitations and the illegal nature of this phenomenon, it is not only difficult to measure its international dimension in many cases, but theoretical attempts to explain it have faced many challenges. The current study uses a qualitative research methodology and in-depth interviews with 22 smugglers active in Afghanistan, as well as 44 deep interviews with smugglers smuggled to Iran (subsequently deported to Afghanistan) in two provinces of Nimruz and Herat. The results showed that smuggling of migrants is a multi-stage and complex process. In the first stage, the main task of smugglers is to find customers and organize logistics and preparations for the journey. Migrants usually find smugglers themselves in two ways: through family and friends or going directly to Zaranj, which is the starting point for irregular migrations from Afghanistan to Iran. In the next step, which is the migration route, the smuggling networks take the migrants from Zaranj city the Pakistan border, crossing the Taliban or militia controlled areas, into the Pakistan territory, and from there, with the help of local networks, they cross the border and enter Sistan and Baluchestan Province in Iran territory. After reaching destination cities inside Iran, the smugglers' contact with the migrants is cut off and the task of integrating them into the host community is placed on family, friends and cultural-ethnic networks. In conclusion, smuggling from Afghanistan to Iran is a commercial, multistages and compex process that is forme by different actors in various levels. In addition, in Afghan culture and society, irregular migratiin is s survival strategy, and the smuggler is not only a criminal, but also as a life- saver, have a positive societal image and social prestige.