The United States Response to the 9/11 Terror Attacks: A New Paradigm for State Responsibility?

Abstract

By invading Afghanistan and holding the Taliban, in part, responsible for the acts of al Qaeda and the 9/11 terror attacks, the United States, NATO, and the Security Council altered the existing customary international law for State responsibility. This paper looks at the framework for creating custom and the acts of the parties involved to discern that an new exception to the existing State responsibility framework was created.