The lack of legality in the US-led invasion of Afghanistan | Letters

Ian Sinclair takes issue with the idea that the 2001 invasion was legal. Plus Dr Richard Lawson suggests that the west buy Afghan farmers' opium crop, medicalise it, and use it medicinally in Africa

Was the 2001 US-led invasion and subsequent ongoing occupation of Afghanistan "never an illegal war", as the Guardian asserts (Editorial, 23 August)?

Written in 2010, the official House of Commons Library briefing paper on the subject makes interesting reading: "The military campaign in Afghanistan was not specifically mandated by the UN, but was widely (although not universally) perceived to be a legitimate form of self-defence under the UN charter."

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