http://dx.doi.org/10.17176/20211008-181445-0 https://verfassungsblog.de/os1-interventionism/ Afghanistan and Great Power Interventionism as Self-Defense von Bernstorff, Jochen eng 2021-10-08 electronic resource text/html ddc:342 9/11 Non-Intervention Public International Law Right to Self-Defense Verfassungsblog Verfassungsblog--2366-7044 CC BY-SA 4.0 We are still in the process of assessing the outcomes of 20 years of Western military and humanitarian presence in Afghanistan, and of a heartless and chaotic withdrawal. The current and somewhat self-centred debates may obscure considerable collateral legal nihilism. My main argument is that the re-interpretation of Art. 51 UN Charter by the US in the context of the so called “war on terror” was (and still is) an attempt to re-introduce new legal justifications for old forms of great power interventionism.