The main lesson from Afghanistan is that the ‘war on terror” does not work | Mary Kaldor

US allies in the fight, the warlords and corrupt officials, would go on to undermine the legitimacy of the Afghan government

• Mary Kaldor is director of the conflict and civil society research unit at London School of Economics

I opposed the initial invasion of Afghanistan on the grounds that terrorism is a heinous crime but not a war, and that we needed to use the techniques of policing and intelligence, while tackling the underlying causes of terrorism, rather than military methods to deal with the problem.

Many of us said at the time that the attacks of 9/11 should have been viewed as a crime against humanity, not as an attack by a foreign state. The terrorists should have been designated as criminals not enemies. As the distinguished war historian Michael Howard said, the phrase war on terror" accorded the terrorists a status they seek and do not deserve".