1 “We are Accidentally Alive in Afghanistan” Reflections on Peace and Justice in Afghanistan International Parliamentary Conference on Peacebuilding: Tackling State Fragility, Wednesday 3 February Sari Kouvo, International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) &Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) /

A Brief Timeline of Conflict in Afghanistan Afghan communist coup; 1979 Soviet occupation starts and Afghanistan becomes a Cold War battleground; 1989 Soviet withdrawal and establishment of sovereign Afghan government; 1992 Coup and civil war; 1996 Taliban takeover; US-led international military intervention, supported from the ground by Afghan Mujahedeen forces. Afghanistan becomes a battleground for the War on Terror; Bonn conference; 2004 First Presidential elections; 2005 Parliamentary elections (Bonn process comes to a close) ; 2006 First London conference (Afghanistan Compact adopted); 2009 Second Presidential elections ; 2010 Second London conference. 2

3 No Peace, No Justice Towards Peace (or Not) : The Bonn Agreement was not a peace agreement, but a power sharing agreement between select commanders/political groupings in Afghanistan; A “politics of accomodation “has marked the peace- and state-building agenda; No comprehensive disarmament; Governance, rule of law and security sector reform marked by ad hoc and short-term solutions; Reconciliation efforts focused only on mid- and low- level commanders/fighters and no overall political strategy for reconciliation has been attempted. Transitional Justice: No focus on justice in the Bonn Agreement; “A Call for Justice”, Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (2005); Government Action Plan for Peace, Justice and Reconciliation (2005); Amnesty Law (2008); Governance deficit and culture of impunity (“Telephone justice”). Image: Tank with election poster, Bamyan Province 2006 (Copyright, S Kouvo)

4 Warlord Governance: Failure by Design?

5 Questions?