Fall 2021 Conflict Series: Transition Without Justice? The Current Developments in Afghanistan

Each Tuesday, the Conflict, Security, and Development Series will examine new research, discuss creative policy approaches, and highlight recent innovations in responding to the challenges of security and development in conflict and post-conflict situations.

Julia Emtseva, Research Fellow Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law; Scholar in Residence (Spring 2022), Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU Law

In just the past few weeks, the situation in Afghanistan has gone from threatening to dire as the Taliban cemented a takeover of the country. Afghan President Ghani has fled the country and Taliban fighters have entered the capital city of Kabul. In light of Ghani's silence with regard to whether he is still the leader of the country and the absence of a formal transfer of power to the Taliban, states now begin to face difficulties in whether and under what conditions to formally recognize the Taliban-led government. 

Without the clarity of who is the legitimate authority in Afghanistan, it is also hard to point at who is saddled with international legal obligations. It is therefore necessary to revisit the doctrine of government recognition and discuss how it influences international obligations, including human rights.