Justice After war‪.‬

Sadly, there are few restraints on the endings of wars. There has never been an international treaty to regulate war's final phase, and there are sharp disagreements regarding the nature of a just peace treaty. There are, by contrast, restraints aplenty on starting wars, and on conduct during war. These restraints include: political pressure from allies and enemies; the logistics of raising and deploying force; the United Nations, its Charter and Security Council; and international laws like the Hague and Geneva Conventions. Indeed, in just war theory--which flames moral principles to regulate wartime actions--here is a robust set of rules for resorting to war (jus ad bellum) and for conduct during war (jus in bello) but not for the termination phase of war. (1) Recent events in Afghanistan, and the "war against terrorism" vividly underline the relevance of reflecting on this omission, and the complex issues related to it. The international community should remedy this glaring gap in our ongoing struggle to restrain warfare. The following facts bear this out: