Gender, culture and security: The role of the United States in post-conflict Afganistan

Current instability in Afghanistan disproportionately impacts Afghan women such that their physical security and the advancement of women's rights are at risk. Guaranteeing the security of women in post-conflict settings is not clearly established in international humanitarian law, human rights law, or in traditional forms of peace-building; furthermore, even recent developments in these fields have inadequately addressed women's experiences in war and its aftermath and are particularly unresponsive to the situation of women in Afghanistan. But given U.S. complicity in Afghanistan's current insecurity, its claim to be liberating Afghan women, and the inability of the Afghan government and the international community to restore security throughout the country, the U.S. must play a central role in restoring and maintaining peace in post-conflict Afghanistan and to be effective, it must provide such security in a manner which accounts for both gender and culture. At present, the U.S. is failing in this responsibility.