“Foreign Passports Only”: Geographies of (Post)Conflict Work in Kabul, Afghanistan

Abstract

Geopolitical “peace-building” relies increasingly on intersections of neoliberal economies of war, violent conflict, and corruption. This article addresses U.S.-led international (post)war aid and development through a spatial examination of Kabul, Afghanistan, examining international worker epistemologies of Afghanistan and “post” conflict aid and development to investigate the spaces of privilege and power associated with political influence, (in)security, and economic and spatial inequities (2006–2008). I draw on recent scholarship in critical feminism, geography, and development studies and the work of Giorgio Agamben regarding the sovereign body and state of exception to demonstrate the spatial disparities and resource inequalities between the “international community” defined as the (un)commonwealth and “local” Afghans. I examine the sovereign status of the (un)commonwealth who manage, assist, or financially profit from international aid and development economies through four interrelated themes: economic and spatial exclusion, (in)security, mobility, and cosmopolitan auxiliary economies.