“Joined up or messed up?” : an inquiry on whether the peacebuilding systems theory would have been applicable in the Afghan context between 2002 and 2014

Abstract

Humanitarian aid organisations and the military have shared the battlefield over and over again in situations ranging from open conflict to peacekeeping situations. Despite sharing the same geographical space the relationship between the military and aid agencies could only be defined as dysfunctional especially during complex emergency situations. Following the military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq humanitarian-military relations were further strained due to the deployment of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in these two countries – leading to, in the majority of cases, either an arms-length or a co-existential approach towards cooperation between the two ‘worlds’. This philosophy has led to an inefficient and possibly ineffective response during these two complex emergencies. This study assesses whether the implementation of the Peacebuilding Systems Theory (PST) in Afghanistan, during the period in question, would have ameliorated the interaction between the PRTs and the aid organisations within the frame work of civil-military cooperation. From a methodological point of view this study implements the PST to an event that occurred in the past and therefore it asks a ‘what would have happened’ research question with the aim of assessing the applicability of this theory to the Afghan context – thereby creating a counterfactual argument. A number of interviews were conducted with military leaders who deployed to Afghanistan as part of PRTs as well as with aid workers who had direct contact with these civil-military elements. Through the analysis of the primary data collected it was shown that only elements of the PST could have been applied to this context. After the analytical process, a number of recommendations were put forward with the aim of improving cooperation between these two diverse ‘worlds’ during future complex emergency situations.