Collective Trauma and Afghanistan

This month has been filled with conversations with colleagues and acquaintances in Afghanistan, given the current scenario. Among everything that is happening, I was struck by visuals of Taliban members enjoying rides in an amusement park after the fall of (or from their perspective, the capture of) Kabul. There is of course, an ocean of opinions drowning the local voices. And the voices of Afghan women and girls are silenced with very real mortal fear.

However, what is happening is not only about Afghanistan. It happens to be occurring in Afghanistan today, and it could be any other part of the world tomorrow.

South and South East Asia are particularly hotbeds of a symptom: entire generations of people in the last few decades have been born and raised in conflict/ civil wars. For them, trauma is the language of life.

The CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study is one of the largest investigations of childhood abuse and neglect and household challenges and later-life health and well-being. There is documented evidence on how ACEs have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration. One cannot condone the violence and fanaticism in Afghanistan and other such contexts. It is critical, however, not turn a blind eye to the collective trauma that manifests as terrorism. Trauma-informed peacebuilding and foreign policy is essential all over the world now. Sanctions and disengagement only deepen the wound of what is now an intergenerational experience. If we hope for peace, we need to seed compassion and dialogue.

When I saw the visuals of the Taliban men, some with guns in their hands, riding the dashing cars, the psychologist in me saw an unlived childhood. I pray we co-create a world where these men are truly parented, and get a safe space to play, so they do not have to express themselves through violent means.

#RukminiIyer #ExultSolutions #peacebuilding #Afghanistan #CollectiveTrauma