Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T15:34:25.887Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Afghanistan: transitional justice in the midst of war

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Elham Atashi
Elham Atashi*
Affiliation:
Peace Studies, Goucher College, Towson, MD, USA, Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In Afghanistan, there has been much talk about, and international support for dealing with past injustices by developing transitional justice mechanisms. Reconciliation is being promoted as a nation-building strategy. This article argues that the implementation of transitional justice poses several challenges. First, a significant component of such a strategy is based on reconciliation taking place internally among competing armed groups and ethnic identities with the goal of transforming Afghan society. This assumes the cause of past conflicts to be internal and along ethnic divisions which limits the accountability for war crimes. It also considers violence and crimes of war as a thing of the past, ignoring the present situation. Furthermore, given the ongoing war between the US-led forces and the Taliban, insecurity and escalating levels of violence one has to question whether transitional justice can take place during a war. This article concludes that transitional justice is interconnected to perceptions of security and stability. The analysis of the present situation in Afghanistan poses critical questions as to whether memories of victims can be considered as the past in the midst of war.

Keywords

ethnicitynation buildingidentitytransitional justicereconciliationAfghanistan
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 41 , Issue 6 , November 2013 , pp. 1049 - 1064
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AIHRC (Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission). 2002. “Transitional Justice Challenging Injustice, Meeting Accountability.” Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission Report. Web December 10, 2010.Google Scholar
Allan, Nigel J. R. 2003. “Rethinking Governance in Afghanistan.” Journal of International Affairs 56 (1): 193–202.Google Scholar
Atashi, Elham. 2011. “Peace Dividends: The Role of External Aid in Peace Building.” In Building Peace in Northern Ireland, edited by Power, Maria, 209–227. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.Google Scholar
Ayub, Fatima, and Kouvo, Sari. 2008. “Righting the Course? Humanitarian Intervention, the War on Terror and the Future of Afghanistan.” International Affairs 84 (4): 641–657.Google Scholar
Barakat, Sultan, and Chard, Margaret. 2002. “Theories, Rhetoric and Practice: Recovering the Capacities of War-Torn Societies.” Third World Quarterly 23 (5): 817–835.Google Scholar
Bickford, Louis. 2007. “Unofficial Truth Projects.” Human Rights Quarterly 29 (4): 994–1035.Google Scholar
Boutros-Ghali, Boutros. 1992. An Agenda for Peace: Preventive Diplomacy, Peacemaking, and Peace-Keeping: Report of the Secretary-General Pursuant to the Statement Adopted by the Summit Meeting of the Security Council on 31 January 1992. New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
Brahimi, Alia. 2010. “The Taliban's Evolving Ideology.” Working paper 2. LSE Global Governance, July. Web December 3, 2010.Google Scholar
Brahm, Eric. 2007. “Transitional Justice, Civil Society, and the Development of the Rule of Law in Post-Conflict Societies.” The International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law 9 (4): 62–72.Google Scholar
Byman, Daniel. 2003. “Al-Qaeda as an Adversary: Do We Understand Our Enemy?” World Politics 56 (1): 139–163.Google Scholar
Call, Charles T. 2004. “Is Transitional Justice Really Just?” Brown Journal of World Affairs 11 (1): 101–113.Google Scholar
Christia, Fotini, and Semple, Michael. 2009. “Flipping the Taliban: How to Win in Afghanistan.” Foreign Affairs 88 (4): 34–45.Google Scholar
Clarke, Ross, and Samsidar, Galuh W. 2008. Considering Victims, The Aceh Peace Process from a Transitional Justice Perspective. New York: International Center for Transitional Justice.Google Scholar
De Greiff, Pablo, and Duthie, Roger, ed. 2009. Transitional Justice and Development: Making Connections. New York: Social Sciences Research Council.Google Scholar
Demsey, John, and Coburn, Noah. 2010. “Traditional Dispute Resolution and Stability in Afghanistan.” Peace Brief. United States Institute for Peace, February 16. Web December 10, 2010.Google Scholar
Donini, Antonio. 2006. “Humanitarian Agenda 2015: Afghanistan Country Study.” Briefing paper. Medford, MA: The Feinstein International Center, Tufts University.Google Scholar
Gibson, James L. 2004. “Does Truth Lead to Reconciliation? Testing the Causal Assumptions of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Process.” American Journal of Political Science 48 (2): 201–217.Google Scholar
Giustozzi, Antonio. 2003. “Respectable War Lords? The Politics of State Building in Post-Taliban Afghanistan.” Crisis States Program, Development Research Center working paper series 33. London: LSE.Google Scholar
Goodson, Larry. 2003. “Afghanistan's Long Road to Reconstruction.” Journal of Democracy 14 (1): 82–99.Google Scholar
Grossman, Patricia. 2006. “Truth, Justice and Stability in Afghanistan.” In Transitional Justice in the Twenty First Century, Beyond Truth Versus Justice, edited by Roht Arriaza, Naomi and Mariezcurrena, Javier, 255–277. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Haass, Richard N, ed. 1998. Intervention: The Use of American Military Force in the Post-Cold War World. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Harpviken, Kristian Berg, Strand, Arne, and Karin, Ask. 2002. Afghanistan and Civil Society. Peshawar/Bergen: Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 8 December. Web January 12, 2011.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2004. Enduring Freedom: Abuses by US forces in Afghanistan. Human Rights Watch Report 16 (3), New York: Human Rights Watch, 8 March 2004. Web January 18, 2010.Google Scholar
Ingalls, James. 2004. “The New Afghan Constitution: A Step Backwards for Democracy.” Foreign Policy in Focus 4: 1–10.Google Scholar
Innocent, Malou. 2009. “Should the President Announce an Afghanistan Exit Strategy?” CQ Researcher 19 (28): 689.Google Scholar
Jalali, Ali A. 2003. “Afghanistan in 2002: The Struggle to Win the Peace.” Asian Survey 43 (1): 174–185.Google Scholar
Johnson, Thomas H. 2006. “The Prospects for Post-Conflict Afghanistan: A Call of the Sirens to the Country's Troubled Past.” Strategic Insights 5 (2): 1–29.Google Scholar
Jones Pauly, Christina, and Nojumi, Neamat. 2004. “Balancing Relations Between Society and State: Legal Steps Toward National Reconciliation and Reconstruction of Afghanistan.” American Society of Comparative Law 52 (4): 825–857.Google Scholar
Kerr, Rachel, and Mobekk, Eirin. 2007. Peace and Justice: Seeking Accountability after War. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Kouvo, Sari, and Mazoori, Dallas. 2011. “Reconciliation, Justice and Mobilization of War Victims in Afghanistan.” International Journal of Transitional Justice 5 (3): 492–503.Google Scholar
Laplante, Lisa J. 2008. “Transitional Justice and Peace Building: Diagnosing and Addressing the Socio-Economic Roots of Violence through a Human Rights Framework.” International Journal of Transitional Justice 2 (3): 331–355.Google Scholar
Lederach, John. 1997. Building Peace. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press.Google Scholar
Ludwin King, Elizabeth. 2010. “Amnesties in a Time of Transition.” The George Washington International Law Review 41 (3): 577–618.Google Scholar
Maass, Citha. 2006. “National Reconciliation in Afghanistan, Conflict History and the Search for an Afghan Approach.” Internaitonales Asienforum 37 (1–2): 5–35.Google Scholar
Malik, John. 2000. “The Dayton Agreement and Elections in Bosnia: Entrenching Ethnic Cleansing Through Democracy.” Stanford Journal of International Law 36 (2): 303–355.Google Scholar
Mamdani, Mahmood. 2000. “The Truth According to the TRC.” In The Politics of Memory: Truth, Healing and Social Justice, edited by Amadiume, Ifi and An-Na'im, Abdullahi, 176–183. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Masadykov, Talatbek, Antonio, Giustozzi, and James Michael, Page. 2010. “Negotiating with the Taliban: Toward a Solution for the Afghan Conflict.” Crisis States Research Centre working papers series 2, 66. London: Crisis States Research Centre, LSE.Google Scholar
Miller, Zinaida. 2008. “Effects of Invisibility: In Search of the Economic in Transitional Justice.” International Journal of Transitional Justice 2 (3): 266–291.Google Scholar
Nadery, Ahmad N. 2007. “Peace or Justice? Transitional Justice in Afghanistan.” International Journal of Transitional Justice 1 (1): 173–179.Google Scholar
Nino, Carlos S. 1991. “The Duty to Punish Past Abuses of Human Rights Put into Context: The Case of Argentina.” Yale Law Journal 100 (8): 2619–2640.Google Scholar
Quinn, Joanna. 2009. “What of Reconciliation: Traditional Mechanisms of Acknowledgement in Uganda.” In Reconciliation (s) Transitional Justice in Post-Conflict Societies, edited by Quinn, Joanna, 174–206. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
Rigby, Andrew. 2001. Justice and Reconciliation: After the Violence. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Rimmer Harris, Susan. 2010. “Building Democracy and Justice after Conflict: The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.” Working Paper No. 5, CIGJ. Canberra: Australian National University. Web February 10, 2011.Google Scholar
Roy, Oliver. 2005. “The Predicament of ‘Civil Society’ in Central Asia and the ‘Greater Middle East'.” International Affairs 81 (5): 1001–1012.Google Scholar
Rubin, Barnett R. 2003. “Transitional Justice and Human Rights in Afghanistan.” International Affairs 79 (3): 567–581.Google Scholar
Saikal, Amin. 2010. “Afghanistan and Pakistan: The Question of Pashtun Nationalism?” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 30 (1): 5–17.Google Scholar
Schetter, Conrad. 2006. The Dilemma of Reconstruction in Afghanistan, International Intervention Between the State, Civil Society and Traditional Elites, Promoting Democracy under Conditions of State Fragility. Berlin: Heinrich Böll Foundation, 1.Google Scholar
Schetter, Conrad, Glassner, Rainer, and Karokhail, Masood. 2006. Understanding Local Violence Security Arrangements in Kandahar, Kunduz and Paktia (Afghanistan). Bonn: Center for Development Research, University of Bonn.Google Scholar
Semple, Michael. 2009. Reconciliation in Afghanistan. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press.Google Scholar
Siddiqui, Nadia. 2010. “Theatre and Transitional Justice in Afghanistan, Creating Spaces for Change.” ICTJ Briefing. New York: International Center for Transitional Justice. December 1.Google Scholar
Simonsen, Sven G. 2004. “Ethnicising Afghanistan? Inclusion and Exclusion in Post-Bonn Institution Building.” Third World Quarterly 25 (4): 707–729.Google Scholar
Tadjbakhsh, Shahrbanou, and Schoiswohl, Michael. 2008. “Playing with Fire? The International Community's Democratization Experiment in Afghanistan.” International Peacekeeping 15 (2): 252–267.Google Scholar
Teitel, Ruti. 2008. “Editorial Note-Transitional Justice Globalized.” International Journal of Transitional Justice 2 (1): 1–4.Google Scholar
Tellis, Ashley J. 2009. “Reconciling With the Taliban? Toward an Alternative Grand Strategy in Afghanistan.” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, April. Web March 19, 2010.Google Scholar
Thier, Alexander J., ed. 2009. The Future of Afghanistan. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace.Google Scholar
Van Zyl, Paul. 1999. “Dilemmas of Transitional Justice: The Case of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” Journal of International Affairs 52 (2): 647–667.Google Scholar
Waldman, Matt. 2011. Dangerous Liaisons with the Afghan Taliban: The Feasibility and Risks of Negotiation. Special Report 256. United States Institute of Peace, October 2010. Web March 26.Google Scholar
Walter, Barbara F. 1999. “Designing Transitions from Civil War: Demobilization, Democratization, and Commitments to Peace.” International Security 24 (1): 127–155.Google Scholar
Wardak, Ali. 2003. Jirga: A Traditional Mechanism of Conflict Resolution in Afghanistan, 1–20. Trefforest, UK: University of Glamorgan. Web March 20, 2012.Google Scholar