This study uses Afghanistan as a case study to evaluate the varied roles women can play in nation-building processes in the post-conflict context. Through this research, teh report explores both the gendered impacts of conflict and post-conflict, as well as the role of women in nation-building activities. The study recommends that nation-building programs should be assessed more broadly from the outset using a human security lens, that a renewed emphasis on equitable and consistent application of the law should be employed from the onset of activities, and that women be included in the economic reconstruction of the state at the earliest stages in the process.