ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book documents the inventiveness and emotional energy invested in the speeches, political debates, statements and policy proposals as well as in the creation of new rituals, medals, war monuments and state-sponsored art projects. It demonstrates that reconstructing a gendered national community was central as European societies interpreted and gave meaning to the military sacrifices and deaths in Afghanistan. The book discusses in theoretical terms the nation and gender reconstructions that occurred as European societies grappled with the Afghanistan war experience. The analysis highlights how gender representations help to sustain a distance from the political world of ideological conflicts and mundane power struggles that threaten to devalue or stain sacrificial death. The analysis of the connections between gender, military sacrifice, and state sovereignty also points towards the possibilities associated with scrutinising the foundations of war-making.
