We use various third-party cookies to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic. Please use the options below to manage your cookie settings. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Please be aware, if you deny cookies, certain features of our website may not work.
This will apply to all services
Google Analytics
YouTube
DIVIDSHUB>
For decades, Afghanistan has been mired in conflict. Supported by the United States, the Afghan government is a party to non-international armed conflicts against the Taliban, as well as against the regional Khorasan branch of the Islamic State group (IS-KP). Furthermore, there is a parallel NIAC between the Taliban and IS-KP.
The entry of our Rule of Law in Armed Conflict (RULAC) online portal on these NIACs provides a detailed analysis of these conflicts, including information about parties, classification and applicable international law. It has been updated to include recent developments, including the current peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English
On 14 February 2018, following a particularly intense wave of violence between the Taliban and governmental forces, the Taliban published an open letter where it expressed the intention to negotiate with the government. On 28 February, Afghan President Ghani affirmed that he was ready to start peace talks, keeping open the possibility to recognize the Taliban as a legitimate political party and to grant amnesty to fighters.
Our RULAC online portal provides detailed information about the ongoing negotiations that have taken place since 2018 between the Taliban and the US government, as well as between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
These negotiations led to an agreement on 12 September 2020 between representatives of the Taliban and of the Afghan government to start peace talks to put an end to the 19 years-long conflict.
Nevertheless, this decision does not imply that the NIAC between the Afghan government – supported by the United States – and the Taliban is over. In addition, it does not affect the NIAC between the Afghan government and the IS-KP, as well as between this group and the Taliban.
‘To determine the end of a NIAC, the start of peace talks and even the conclusion of a peace agreement are not enough. Indeed, armed confrontations can continue during the talks – as it is the case here – and even beyond the signing of the agreement and IHL continues to apply to these instances of violence. Instead, an armed conflict ends whenever armed confrontations have ceased and there is no concrete risk that they will resume’ explains Dr Chiara Redaelli, Research Fellow at the Geneva Academy.
‘Therefore, although these peace talks are landmark and hopefully will determine the end of hostilities, it is too early to conclude that the NIAC between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban is over’, she adds.
Peretz Partensky
Major James Crawford/ Resolute Support Media
News
Geneva Academy
Professor Marco Sassòli has been appointed as one of three experts on a mission to investigate violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in Ukraine for the OSCE.
News
Kevin Ku, Unsplash
Our new Working Paper Societal Risks and Potential Humanitarian Impact of Cyber Operations provides an up-to-date assessment of existing risks and protection needs in light of contemporary and future military cyber capabilities.
Short Course
UN Photo
This short course, which can be followed in Geneva or online, looks at the sources from which public international law rules stem and at the entities that are empowered with the capacity of law-making in the international legal order. It aims at enabling participants to develop a global perception of the international normative system.
Short Course
ICRC
This short course, which can be followed in Geneva or online, provides an in-depth study of an emblematic example of the complexity of international humanitarian law and the challenges it raises: the classification of armed conflicts.
Project
orihaus
This project aims at staying abreast of the various military technology trends; promoting legal and policy debate on new military technologies; and furthering the understanding of the convergent effects of different technological trends shaping the digital battlefield of the future.
Project
Oliver Peters / Pixabay
The ‘Counter-Terror Pro LegEm’ project combines legal analysis with social science research to (1) examine the effectiveness of counterterrorism measures and their effects on human rights and (2) analyse the structure of terrorist networks such as Al Qaeda or the Islamic State and see whether they qualify as ‘organized armed groups’ for the purpose of international humanitarian law.
Publication
