The UN and Afghanistan: A case of failed peacemaking intervention?

Abstract

If there is one conflict which has constantly defied the UN's efforts at conflict resolution it is that in Afghanistan. The UN's political response to this conflict has been profoundly imperceptive. The sheer complexity of the Afghan situation has overwhelmed the UN, which has proved incapable of tackling the conflict from other than the rigidly conventional angle that has generally characterized its approach to conflict resolution. Successive representatives of the UN Secretary‐General have found their missions frustrated by their inability to adjust rapidly to Afghan reality, and the approaches that they have adopted have almost invariably proved to be void of an adequate understanding of the nature of Afghan society and politics. This lack of success in the political arena has in turn affected the UN's humanitarian operations, limiting the organization, with some notable exceptions, to a largely cosmetic contribution to the well‐being of a majority of the Afghan people.