Abstract:
Since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Afghanistan has seen an
unprecedented level of intervention and assistance from the international community.
This diverse set of actors that included foreign states, international organizations, and
thousands of nongovernmental organizations brought with them often competing and
conflicting agendas that sought to concurrently address nation building, counterterrorism,
development and reconstruction issues. At the center of such activities were the Afghan
people, who had already endured over 30 years of protracted conflict that began first with
the invasion of the Soviet Union, a subsequent civil war, and control by the Taliban
regime. An already war and conflict weary Afghanistan was now the site of an array of
external objectives and initiatives that did not necessarily achieve their desired outcomes.
Despite these significant resource investments, Afghanistan remains in conflict and its
people still face acts of violence from an active insurgency. As individuals, and in this
case the people of Afghanistan are at the center of concern, this thesis examines human
security theory as a potential framework for resolving the conflict in Afghanistan. It is an
analysis of this concept first popularized by the United Nations in 1994, and using
Afghanistan as a case study, will seek to develop a conceptual framework that assesses
actions in the country since 9/11 and determine their effectiveness if they could be
modified under a more holistic human security strategy.
