The failure of the laws of war in Afghanistan: between international and world society

The Brereton Report, and the subsequent establishment of an Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) to review the findings of the Afghanistan Inquiry present an opportunity for international relations theory to interrogate a series of complex relationships between violence and justice as they relate to: (a) the gap between acknowledged benefits of adherence with the laws of war, and a failure of battlefield effectiveness of these laws; (b) the powerful influence of transnationally constituted discourse of Afghans and Afghanistan on the actions of Special Forces personal; and (c) the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a factor informing the decision to establish the OSI. Through application of the English School of International Relations, we demonstrate that while the Australian Government’s behaviour has been conditioned by the laws of war, the embeddedness of their soldiers in alternative transnational discourses about Afghans (as a people) and Afghanistan (as a place) resulted in non-compliance and a lack of effectiveness ‘on the ground’. Drawing on evidence from existing studies, the news media, and the Brereton Report, we argue that Afghans were subject to racial dehumanisation by members of the Special Operations Task Group (SOTG), and this dehumanisation was an important factor in a series of interacting variables that led to the allegations in the report.