journal of international peacekeeping 21 (2017) 246-270 204206 © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/18754112-02103004 brill.com/joup JOUP Rebuilding the Justice Sector of Afghanistan Conor Foley* Pontifícia Universidade Católica Rio de Janeiro, Rua Marquês de São Vicente, 225, Gávea – Rio de Janeiro, RJ – Brasil, cep: 22451-900 conorfoley30@hotmailcom Abstract The Afghan authorities and the international community have worked together to re- build the justice sector into something which now at least approximates to a system that conforms to international standards. This article argues that while the process has been fraught there have been tangible advances and some verifiable ways to measure this. Capacity-building support of the state system will require continuing external monitoring, to gauge its impact, and the state system also has an important role in monitoring the way in which customary law institutions dispense justice. This article concludes that, despite many set-backs and uncertainties, now is not the time for the international community to turn its back on justice sector reform in Afghanistan. Keywords Afghanistan – justice sector reform – post-conflict reconstruction – international interventions * Dr Conor Foley is a Visiting Professor at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica Rio de Janeiro. He has worked on legal reform, human rights and protection issues in over thirty conflict zones for a variety of human rights and humanitarian agencies including: UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UN-Habitat and Amnesty International. He is author of The Pro- tection of Civilians by UN Peacekeeping Missions, Cambridge University Press, September 2017, and The Thin Blue Line: How Humanitarianism Went to War, London: Verso: 2010. Other books include: Protecting Brazilians Against Torture, London: International Bar Association, 2013; Another System is Possible: Reforming Brazilian Justice, Brasilia: Ministry for Justice of Bra- zil, 2012; Human Rights, Human Wrongs: The Alternative Report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, London: Rivers Oram, 1995; and Legion of the Rearguard: The ira and the Modern Irish State, London: Pluto Press, 1992. 0004338293.INDD 246 4/4/2019 3:46:16 PM