This study aims to understand the American usage of drones in Afghanistan through an ethical lens, more specifically the ethical framework “Just War Theory”. “Just War Theory” is divided into “jus ad bellum”, the ethics behind starting/entering a conflict, and “jus in bello”, the ethics of what you could do in an ongoing conflict. Through a qualitative analysis of documents, the study will focus on the reasons behind the usage of drones and how the Americans aimed to use them. The consequence of drone usage will also be described and especially the impact on the civilian population. This information will be combined to understand how the ethical usage of drones was conducted in Afghanistan.
The study concludes that USA had an established and ethical motivation to implement drones in Afghanistan against the terrorists. They implemented different programs to make a distinction between civilians and terrorists. Drones were implemented to conduct ISR missions, and the targeting of terrorist was a secondary task. However, the use of drones resulted in multiple deaths and injuries among the civilians which could be understood as the Americans did not follow their own guidelines on not targeting civilians. Overall, from an ethical perspective the increasing use of drones in Afghanistan do not align with all principles of “Just War Theory” and could thereby be understood as an ethical problem.