Healing the Legacies of Conflict in Afghanistan

Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit Synthesis Paper Healing the Legacies of Conflict in Afghanistan Community Voices on Justice, Peace and Reconciliation January 2012 Emily Winterbotham This page has been left blank for printing purposes Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit Synthesis Paper Healing the Legacies of Conflict in Afghanistan Community Voices on Justice, Peace and Reconciliation Emily Winterbotham Funding for this research was provided by the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Kabul January 2012 2012 Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit About the Author Emily Winterbotham has researched transitional justice, human rights violations and wider justice issues in Afghanistan for the past three years. She joined AREU in February 2009 where she managed the Legacies of Conflict research project. During this time she has also worked closely with Afghan civil society organiations and is currently involved in assisting several organisations with their implementation of human rights and justice projects in Afghanistan. She previously conducted research on the issue in Bosnia-Herzegovina and has an MSc in Global Politics from the London School of Economics. About the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit The Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) is an independent research institute based in Kabul. AREU’s mission is to inform and influence policy and practice through conducting high-quality, policy-relevant research and actively disseminating the results, and to promote a culture of research and learning. To achieve its mission AREU engages with policymakers, civil society, researchers and students to promote their use of AREU’s research and its library, to strengthen their research capacity, and to create opportunities for analysis, reflection and debate. AREU was established in 2002 by the assistance community working in Afghanistan and has a board of directors with representation from donors, the United Nations and other multilateral agencies, and non- governmental organisations. AREU currently receives core funds from the governments of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and SwitzerAREU receives core funds from the governments of Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Specific projects in 2011 have been funded by the European Commission (EC), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission (ECHO), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and UN Women. Editing: Jay Lamey Cover Photograph: Participants at the 2010 Victims’ day memorial service at the infamous Pul- i-Charkhi prison near Kabul (by Mònica Bernabé) AREU Publication Code: 1201E © 2012 Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of AREU. Some rights are reserved. This publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted only for non-commercial purposes and with written credit to AREU and the author. Where this publication is reproduced, stored or transmitted electronically, a link to AREU’s website (www.areu.org.af) should be provided. Any use of this publication falling outside of these permissions requires prior written permission of the publisher, the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit. Permission can be sought by emailing [email protected] or by calling +93 (0) 799 608 548. ii Emily Winterbotham Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit 2012 Acknowledgements Above all, the author wishes to thank the communities in Ghazni City and Qarabagh in Ghazni, Afshar and Shakardara in Kabul, and Sayed Abad and Dara-i-Ali in Bamiyan, who gave up their time to talk to the research team. Without their cooperation and insight this research would not have been possible and the author hopes that the paper does justice to the desires and demands they articulated. Special thanks go to the research team responsible for conducting this research and for contributing to the analysis of the data, Fauzia Rahimi, Amin Sheikhzadeh, Zaman Sultani, Akbar Ludin, Jamila Wafa, Shukria Azadmanesh and Farkhloqa Amini. The author wishes to thank them for their dedication and patience throughout the project. Thanks also to the Organization for Sustainable Development Research (OSDR), the partner organisation that enabled AREU to conduct research in Ghazni Province. The author wishes to express great appreciation to OSDR’s research team in conducting fieldwork in frequently challenging and insecure circumstances and for contributing toward some preliminary analysis. The author would also like to thank Dallas Mazoori and Sari Kouvo for their advice on producing this synthesis and for their guidance throughout the project, the peer reviewers for their extensive and helpful comments, Chona Echavez for her supervision, and Oliver Lough for additional help. The author is particularly grateful to Jay Lamey in particular, who provided extensive advice and support throughout the project; final thanks go to Deborah Smith for establishing the project in conjunction with the International Centre for Transitional Justice. Emily Winterbotham December 2011 Healing the Legacies of Conflict in Afghanistan iii 2012 Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit Table of Contents Glossary ...................................................................................................v Acronyms .................................................................................................vi Executive Summary ......................................................................................1 1. Introduction to the Research .......................................................................7 1.1 Conceptualising transitional justice: Justice, forgiveness, peace and reconciliation ... 8 1.2 Research methodology �� 12 2. The Research Context �� 17 2.1 Political and institutional context �� 17 2.2 Social context and civil society activities �� 24 3. Afghanistan’s Conflicts: Experiences, Perceptions and Perpetrators ....................... 28 3.1 Experiences and perceptions of conflict �� 28 3.2 Who are perceived as perpetrators and responsible for conflict? �� 37 3.3 Lingering effects of war: Mental, emotional and psychological suffering �� 41 4. Different Models to Address Afghanistan’s Past and Present Conflicts ..................... 44 4.1 Retributive model �� 44 4.2 The restorative and reparative model �� 57 4.3 The forgive or forget approach �� 67 5. Peace and Reconciliation in Afghanistan ........................................................ 76 5.1 Community-level peacebuilding and reconciliation processes �� 76 5.2 National-level peacebuilding and reconciliation processes �� 79 5.3 What does legitimate government look like? �� 84 6. Key Conclusions and Recommendations ......................................................... 88 6.1 Key conclusions �� 88 6.2 Fulfilling demands for justice while upholding peace �� 89 6.3 Beyond retributive justice: Healing and peace �� 92 6.4 Reflections on ongoing peace efforts �� 96 Bibliography ...........................................................................................100 List of Tables, Boxes and Figures Table 1: Field research sites ........................................................................ 14 Box 1: Timeline of national-level processes that impacted transitional justice and reconciliation ........................................................................................... 20 Image 1: Participants in the 2010 Victims’ Jirga .................................................. 25 Image 2: Theatre performance in Kabul exploring transitional justice themes .............. 26 Table 2: Experiences of Afghanistan’s conflicts by research site ............................... 30 Table 3: Mechanisms identified to assist healing processes and deal with past crimes and perpetrators by province and degree of support ................................................. 45 Image 3: Board listing names of victims of Taliban atrocities, Yakowlang District, Bamiyan Province ................................................................................................. 64 Figure 1: The relationship between context and the desire for punishment or forgiveness/ forgetting ............................................................................................... 69 iv Emily Winterbotham Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit 2012 Glossary All terms are in Dari unless otherwise stated Aasht-i-Milli National Reconciliation buzkashi a rough Afghan horseback sport with similarities to polo, which places a high premium on individual prowess dard dell-i-shan ra aram kona to calm a heart’s pain, stemming the desire for revenge; providing

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