The Uses of Legal Ambiguity: Issues with Legal Protections of International Workers in Afghanistan

Abstract

The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 started a now seventeen-year international intervention in Afghanistan that brought thousands of international troops to the country. At the same time, and less commented on in the media or in international legal studies, these troops have been supported by tens of thousands of international contractors providing private security and other services. In December 2009, the U.S. Department of Defense alone funded over 96,000 private contractors in Afghanistan.2 Particularly those international contractors and laborers from non-Western countries, have faced a myriad of legal challengesranging from fines for incorrect visa documentation to long term imprisonment on a variety of charges. In almost all cases, these workers are unsure of their rights and struggle to navigate the legal system. This article looks at some of the challenges faced by international, primarily non-Western, workers in Afghanistan, the limited legal support available to them and the legal ambiguity that often times surrounded their status. It begins with an ethnographic case study, from one of over two hundred and fifty interviews of contractors conducted by the author. As this case suggests, the maintenance of this legal ambiguity has allowed for further exploitation that primarily benefited the companies employing these workers and, less directly, the countries funding these contracts. Attempts to protect workers, both by the governments of their home countries, and by various international agreements have largely been ineffective. The protections that do exist are often ´ inaccessible to poorer workers from non-Western countries. Ultimately, more robust protections by countries providing funds for international workers are the only way to guarantee legal protections in cases of conflict zones and places, like Afghanistan, where there is a significant international presence, but limited rule of law.