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Peace Building and State Building in Afghanistan: Constructing Sovereignty for Whose Security? The operations called « peace building » or post-conflict » by the United Nations are better conceived of as internationally supported state building. They thus form part of the historical process of formation of an international state system based on the juridical sovereignty of very unequal states. The problems encountered in the Afghanistan recovery, illustrate that the divisions, rivalries, and fragmentation of authority of the ???international community??? can undermine the goal of state building. Sustainable stability and peace, to say nothing of democracy, require international actors to delegate some sovereign functions to a multilateral entity that can reinforce rather than undermine the institutions of the reconstructed country. The lessons of Afghanistan signal the need for the peace building mechanisms proposed by Secretary-Generalâ??s High-level Panel, which would provide a unified decision-making body as a counterpart to the recipient national government and potentially bring order into the anarchy often created by multiple agendas, doctrines, and aid budgets.