ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the lawfulness of employing military force against Afghanistan in October 2001. The primary issue addressed here is whether or not the use of force was a legitimate exercise of the inherent right of self-defence pursuant to of the United Nations Charter. The chapter focuses on the self-defence justification because both the US and the UK stated that they were acting pursuant. It has deliberately focused on the official justifications for using force, as set out in respective notifications to the Security Council on 7 October 2001, but it taken into account the unofficial attempts to bolster the case for using force. Military force may well have had a role to play in maintaining international peace and security. Unofficial because the US and the UK did not refer to the human rights/humanitarian intervention aspect in their notifications to the Security Council, this ground was repeatedly referred to by both President Bush and Prime Minister Blair in public statements.
