War, crime, justice and social order in Afghanistan

Abstract

This chapter reviews Afghanistan less as a war and more as a contest of criminalized justice systems. It provides priority to empowering and reforming traditional rural justice and a Hobbesian analysis of the rise of Islamist and other forms of tyranny. One important consequence of this has been that when the Afghan state collapsed following the Soviet invasion, social order continued to exist in Afghan rural villages, where the overwhelming majority of Afghans live. Village justice is more important than state justice, though state justice is also interdependently important to securing a world freed from terror and violence. The Afghan state failed to secure inclusiveness, to deliver security and justice, to prevent corruption, address the issues of war crimes and crimes against humanity and to control the drug trade. Peacekeepers may be required to protect both the Afghan state and its society, including those involved in bottom-up reconciliatory work. Show more