Several truths can be accurate at the same time
Afghanistan is a challenging puzzle to put together – but in order to contribute to change, we need to try to understand the country’s logic, writes Kajsa Johansson.
Over the past year, I have had the privilege of visiting Afghanistan on a regular basis. When something is done frequently, it can sometimes become less stimulating—it turns into routine and demands less of us. With Afghanistan, however, the feeling is exactly the opposite: with every conversation and every new experience, it only becomes more challenging and harder to comprehend.
If I were to lay out everything I read and hear about Afghanistan as puzzle pieces before me, and add to those pieces everything I see and experience on the ground, it feels impossible that they could form a single puzzle – it must be at least two.
And yet, it is just one. Perhaps this is the most difficult aspect of all when we try to describe the situation in Afghanistan: everything is true at the same time. Most of what we hear and see contains an element of truth. Men who decide that girls may not attend school – and men who do everything they can to find ways for girls to receive an education. Women confined to their homes as if in a prison – and women who run businesses and employ other women. A government that is extremely closed – and representatives of that same government who want nothing more than to engage in dialogue.
Perhaps this is where the international community often goes wrong. We prefer clear, or perhaps rather unambiguous, narratives: black or white, hope or hopelessness, progress or catastrophe. Afghanistan does not lend itself to such simple descriptions.
During my visits, I have heard foreigners say that there is no logic in Afghanistan. But every society has its own logic, of course – even if it does not resemble the logic of the society we ourselves come from. The real question is whether we are willing to try to understand it, even when we do not agree with it. If we are not, our ability to contribute to meaningful change will be very limited.
One truth does not invalidate another; the fact that one thing is true does not make another any less true. We must be able to hold not just two, but many more thoughts in our minds at the same time. We must see and understand the problems in order to identify what matters most, and what kind of difference we want to help make. But it is equally important that we see the opportunities, the openings, and the exceptions, so that we can understand how best to contribute to change.
With every new puzzle piece, we hopefully become not only more challenged but also wiser – and therefore better equipped to support the Afghan people in the most effective way possible.
KAJSA JOHANSSON
Secretary General, Solidarity Committee for Afghanistan.