Afghanistan

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Are all Afghan women and girls refugees? An analysis in light of the Refugee Convention

December 22, 2022

Following the withdrawal of the United States (US) and international forces in July 2021, the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan.  Since the Taliban takeover, women and girls have been denied a number of fundamental rights and subjected to various discriminatory measures – including restrictions on education, work, movement and freedom of expression and speech. On 20 December 2022, restricting the right to education of Afghan women further, the Taliban banned women from universities. These recent developments raise a crucial question: should any Afghan woman or girl fleeing the country following the Taliban takeover be recognised as a refugee under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Convention)? Here we attempt to answer this question and argue that all Afghan women and girls fleeing Taliban rule should be recognised, as a group, as refugees under the 1951 Convention.   First, we briefly outline state responses to the Taliban takeover ranging from evacuations to resettlement to treatment of Afghan women…

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Ashraf Ghani’s ambitions to divert the Helmand River now serve his enemy, the Taliban: an International Law perspective

July 13, 2022

One tragedy follows another in Afghanistan. Occurring amid many other dramatic events, the diversion of the Helmand (Hirmand) River, which flows through Afghanistan and Iran, by the Taliban in January 2022 was almost lost in the news. This deliberate act can cause huge economic losses, degrade entire ecosystems, and threaten the lives of those dependent upon its waters.

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9/11 Victims’ Claims to Afghanistan’s Foreign Exchange Reserve

January 31, 2022

Afghanistan’s foreign exchange reserve has drawn considerable interest of late. According to recent reports, Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), the State’s central bank, holds around USD 10 billion in the form of US treasury bonds, gold offshore and other investments. Given that most of the funds are held in the United States Federal Reserve and denominated in foreign…

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The Law and Tech of Two Targeted Killings

September 30, 2021

The New York Times recently published two fascinating pieces on two separate instances of targeted killings. The first is on the tragic denouement of the 20 years of US presence in Afghanistan – a drone strike conducted on 29 August by the US military in Kabul, purportedly against terrorists planning a second deadly attack against…

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Inviting a Wolf to the Table: The 2020 US-Taliban Agreement and Questions of State Responsibility

September 6, 2021

On Sunday 15 August 2021, towards the final phase of the US and other NATO States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban entered Kabul’s abandoned presidential palace, confirmed its control over the country, and announced the restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The act was the culmination of a well-organized takeover by the Taliban of 26 out of…

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