Demarcation between Military and Humanitarian Activities in Afghanistan and the Role of Law

Recent trends towards closer integration of military and humanitarian aspects of post-conflict reconstruction have raised questions as to the legal regime regulating such operations. The lack of a guiding framework has in practice resulted in suboptimal division of labour between military and humanitarian actors, even when common political and humanitarian interests can be identified. Afghanistan has in recent years seen significant involvement of international political actors in both military and humanitarian spheres. A new form of joint military-civilian operation carried out by so-called ‘Provincial Reconstruction Teams ’ (PRTs) has been trialled since 2003. These operations have prompted concerns regarding the dangers of blurring the distinction between military and humanitarian operations in a context of ongoing political instability. Although the clear identification of (unarmed) humanitarian resources is embedded in the law of armed conflict, the applicable law in a post-conflict setting is far less clear. This paper begins by outlining the humanitarian and security context of Afghanistan, the background to the PRT concept and the difficulties it has faced. The militarization of