Terrorism and Afghanistan

• Author: Yoram Dinstein
• Position: Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University, Israel
• Pages: 43-57

II

Terrorism and Afghanistan

Yoram Dinstein*

LTerrorism as an Armed Attack

A. The "War on Terrorism"

Theexpression "war on terrorism" is merely afigure of speech or ametaphor:

it is not different in principle from the parallel phrases "war on drugs" and

"war on poverty." The reason is that the expression "war" is not used in either con-

text as alegal term ofart. This is easily grasped by anyone who knows international

law. But the trouble with acatchy phrase is that it is apt to catch its users in anet: in

time, they (especially if they are laypersons and not international legal experts)

tend to believe that the figure of speech which they have coined actually reflects

reality.

Metaphors aside, there are two types of war pursuant to international law:

inter-State (international armed conflicts) and intra-State ("civil wars" or non-

international armed conflicts). In an international armed conflict, two or more

belligerent States are locked in combat with each other. Large numbers of States are

currently engaged in the global "war on terrorism." Yet, the strife qualifies as war in

the international legal sense only when hostilities are raging against an enemy State

that has joined hands with the terrorists. As we shall see, this is true only in the case

of Afghanistan. 1

*Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University, Israel.