The Rule of Law in Afghanistan: Missing in Inaction

368 Pages·2011·1.53 MB·English

by  Whit Mason

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THE RULE OF LAW IN AFGHANISTAN
MissinginInaction
How, despite the enormous investment of blood and treasure, has the
West’sten-yearinterventionleftAfghanistansolawlessandinsecure?The
answer is more insidious than any conspiracy, for it begins with a pro-
foundlackofunderstandingoftheruleoflaw,theverythingthatmost
dramaticallyseparatesWesternsocietiesfromthebenightedonesinwhich
theyincreasinglyintervene.
Thisvolumeofessaysarguesthattheruleoflawisnotasetofinstitutions
thatcanbeexportedlock,stockandbarreltolawlesslands,butastateof
affairsunderwhichordinarypeopleandofficialsofthestateitselffeelit
makessensetoactwithinthelaw.Wheresuchastateofaffairsisabsent,
asinAfghanistantoday,bruteforce,notlaw,willcontinuetorule.
whitmasonconsultsinternationallyonpoliticaldevelopmentanddirects
theprojectonjusticeinpeace-buildinganddevelopmentintheCentrefor
InterdisciplinaryStudiesofLaw,UniversityofNewSouthWales,Sydney.
He was a founding member of the UN’s justice coordination office in
KandaharandworksasanadvisertotheUnitedStatesInstituteofPeace’s
disputeresolutionprograminAfghanistan.

THE RULE OF LAW IN
AFGHANISTAN
Missing in Inaction
Editedby
WHIT MASON
cambridgeuniversitypress
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permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2011
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
TheruleoflawinAfghanistan:missingininaction/editedbyWhitMason.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-107-00319-4–ISBN978-0-521-17668-2(pbk.) 1.Ruleoflaw–Afghanistan.
2.Justice,Administrationof–Afghanistan. 3.AfghanWar,2001– I.Mason,Whit.
KNF2020.R85 2011
958.104(cid:3)71–dc22 2010041670
ISBN978-1-107-00319-4Hardback
ISBN978-0-521-17668-2Paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtoin
thispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,
orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
CONTENTS
Contributors viii
Prefaceandacknowledgements xv
1 Introduction 1
whitmason
part i
Thescopeandnatureoftheproblem 13
2 Approachingtheruleoflaw 15
martinkrygier
3 DeiokesandtheTaliban:Localgovernance,
bottom-upstateformationandtheruleoflawin
counter-insurgency 35
davidj.kilcullen
part ii
Thecontext:Wherewestarted 51
4 Theinternationalcommunity’sfailures
inAfghanistan 53
francescvendrell
5 Theruleoflawandtheweightofpolitics:Challenges
andtrajectories 61
williammaley
6 Humansecurityandtheruleoflaw:Afghanistan’s
experience 84
shahmahmoodmiakhel
v
vi contents
part iii
Thepoliticaleconomyofopium 97
7 TheAfghaninsurgencyandorganisedcrime 99
gretchenpeters
8 Afghanistan’sopiumstrategyalternatives–amoment
formasterfulinactivity? 123
joelhafvenstein
part iv
Afghanapproaches tosecurity and
theruleoflaw 147
9 Engagingtraditionaljusticemechanisms
inAfghanistan:State-buildingopportunityor
dangerousliaison? 149
susanneschmeidl
10 Casualtiesofmyopia 172
michaele.hartmann
11 LandconflictinAfghanistan 205
colindeschampsandalanroe
part v
International interventions 223
12 Exogenousstate-building:Thecontradictionsofthe
internationalprojectinAfghanistan 225
astrisuhrke
13 Graspingthenettle:Facilitatingchangeor
moreofthesame? 249
barbaraj.stapleton
14 Lostintranslation:Legaltransplantswithout
consensus-basedadaptation 266
michaele.hartmannandagnieszkaklonowiecka-milart
part vi
Kandahar 299
15 Nojustice,nopeace:Kandahar,2005–09 301
graemesmith
contents vii
16 KandaharafterthefalloftheTaliban 308
shafiullahafghan
part vii
Conclusion 317
17 Axiomsandunknowns 319
whitmason
Index 330
CONTRIBUTORS
shafiullah afghanwasformerlythetopaidetoKabul’sslainchiefof
police, Akrem Khakrezwal, governance adviser in the Canadian Provin-
cial Reconstruction Team, and program associate in UNAMA’s justice
office coordination office for southern Afghanistan. He currently heads
anindependentconsultingfirminKandahar.
colindeschampsisnowworkingonthenationalsolidarityprogramin
theWorldBank’sKabuloffice.Atthetimeofwriting,hewastheNatural
ResourceManagementResearchOfficeratAREU.
joel hafvenstein wasformerlyheadofoperationsforUSAID’salter-
nativelivelihoodsprograminHelmand;authorofOpiumSeason:AYear
ontheAfghanFrontier(2009);thendirectorofTearfund,Afghanistan.He
andhiswifearenowwalkingthelengthofBritain.
michael e. hartmannissenioradviserandmanager,CriminalJustice
Program, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Afghanistan (2008–10). He
was formerly acting chief of UNAMA’s rule of law unit (2007–08), US
State/INL-JSSP adviser to the Attorney-General of Afghanistan (2005–
07), and UNMIK international prosecutor appointed to the Supreme
CourtofKosovo(2000–05).HeworkedonjusticereforminBosniaand
HerzegovinafortheUNandABA-CEELIfrom1997to2000,andwasa
senior Fulbright Scholar (criminal law) in Lahore, Pakistan (University
ofPunjabLawCollege)in1996.IntheUS,heservedasaSanFrancisco
assistant district attorney from 1983 until he joined the UN in Bosnia.
Hartmann was a senior fellow for the US Institute of Peace in 2003,
and adjunct faculty at the law schools of the University of California at
Berkeley,UCHastingsandUSF.
viii