Military intervention in Afghanistan was launched only weeks after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS). Yet, there was no mention of Resolution 1325 in any of the resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council on Afghanistan in 2001, and gender-just peace remains elusive in Afghanistan. This chapter explores the reasons why the WPS agenda had such little traction in what could be considered its first testing ground, and how it might even have been counterproductive. After examining efforts to implement the WPS agenda in each of its four pillars, we suggest three key interconnected reasons for the limited progress: the self-interested nature of the intervening powers, the legacies of decades of conflict and intervention in Afghanistan, and the WPS agenda’s emphasis on civil and political rights and relative neglect of women’s economic and social rights. We conclude with suggestions for enhancing women’s security and participation in Afghanistan and the WPS agenda more broadly.
Testing the WPS Agenda