War on Terror and the United States Human Rights Violations in Afghanistan and Pakistan: An International Law Perspective

Abstract

The 9/11 attacks triggereda paradigm shift in the United States security policy, prioritizing to ensure homeland security and to fight against the terrorism in the new American strategy.The United States invasion of Afghanistan further ravaged the existing fragile state damaging the already crumbling socio-economic and human infrastructure. In addition, the spillover of war into Pakistan started a new era of instability and misery further complicating the socio-economic fabric of the country making it the most vulnerable to terrorism related incidents. The two decades prolonged conflict not only destroyed the economic, social, and political infrastructure in both states, meanwhile mass human rights violations have been committed by the coalition forces under the leadership ofthe United States. In this context, the present paper investigates human rights abuses through the prism of international human rights law. The study addresses the following questions. (a) To what extent the United States war against terror violates the international law of human rights, and how it helpsWashington to reconsolidate the regional hegemony. (b) Whetherthe war on terror improve the situation of human rights or further aggravate the conditions of civilians in targeted states. The studyunderlinesthat the war on terror failed to meet the merit of the right to intervene for self-defense, yet the coalition forces deliberately assimilatethe innocent civilians underthe vagueanti-terror war rhetoric. In addition, the war serves the United States hegemonic interests in South Asia, as the American presence in Afghanistan and the Indo-United States strategic partnership brought serious geopolitical implications for China and Pakistan.