Afghanistan and the folly of apolitical demilitarisation

Demilitarisation is widely viewed as a key to the success of stabilisation and peace-building operations in post-conflict environments. Although a highly politically sensitive process that, in effect, seeks to re-order power relations, demilitarisation efforts tend to be treated by international actors as an apolitical, technical exercise. The disconnect between the heightened political stakes of demilitarisation and the marginal investment of political capital to advance it has undermined implementation time and time again. A classic case study of this phenomenon is Afghanistan after 2001, which saw the launch of one of the most ambitious and expensive DDR programmes in history with only tepid political engagement from key local and international stakeholders. This paper will argue that the failure to build a robust political consensus on demilitarisation among both domestic and international stakeholders doomed the Afghan process to failure.