8am: Recent Pakistani airstrikes in parts of Nangarhar and Paktika provinces have once again raised a fundamental question: when a state conducts operations across the border under the banner of “counterterrorism,” yet the result is the killing of women and children and the destruction of civilian homes, how should this situation be assessed under international law? Politically, these events continue the dangerous cycle of “attack, retaliation, attack” between Pakistan and the Taliban as Afghanistan’s de facto authorities. Legally, however, the matter extends beyond an international armed conflict. Targeting civilians or civilian objects, if it violates core principles of humanitarian law, may give rise to the question of war crimes. Click here to read more (external link).
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