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The Taliban Layeha for Mujahidin and the Law of Armed Conflict

2012; Brill; Volume: 3; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1163/18781527-00301006

1878-1527

Niaz A. Shah,

Military History and Strategy

In 2010 the Taliban issued a third edition of their Layeha . The Layeha contains Rules and Regulations of Jihad for Mujahidin. This article first details the short history of the Layeha published by the Taliban. Subsequently its content is analysed and compared with the international law of armed conflict that applies in conflicts of an international and non-international character. The author demonstrates that, whilst some rules are incompatible or ambiguous, most rules of the Layeha are compatible with the international law of armed conflict. Compliance with the rules that are compatible could help to achieve the objectives of the law of armed conflict: to minimise unnecessary suffering in armed conflict. The author submits that considering that the Taliban are engaged in fighting in Afghanistan and that they have control of or influence in parts Afghanistan, it is encouraging that they have produced such a self-imposed code. Any minimum restraint, whether self-imposed or imposed by municipal or international law, is better than no restraint at all.