Living with Killing

2021年8月15日，喀布尔陷落，标志着阿富汗战争的结束。超过3,500名来自北约领导的联军的士兵在冲突中丧生，还有大约46,000名平民和近70,000名阿富汗士兵和警察。胜利者是塔利班，这是一个非国家武装组织，他们使用叛乱战术，包括暗杀，自杀式爆炸和绑架，以取得成功。它的领导人将这种极端暴力描述为正义战胜邪恶，信仰战胜不信仰，意识形态战胜模棱两可。我的研究项目将从那些代表塔利班杀人的人的角度来研究这种公共叙事的个人分量。通过对叛乱分子的半结构化采访，我将创造出塔利班武装分子在犯罪过程的不同阶段参与杀戮的生活史：宣传人员，后勤人员，步兵和指挥官。通过这些生活史，我将研究如何道德伤害和创伤的灵魂，包括抑郁症，创伤后应激障碍和犯罪引起的创伤，影响了非国家武装演员在一个最重要的战争之一的21世纪。宗教信仰和意识形态是否能减轻塔利班内部的罪恶感和羞耻感，这将是我想要回答的关键问题之一。

general audience.The fall of Kabul on August 15, 2021, was meant to markthe end of the war in Afghanistan. More than 3,500 troopsfrom the NATO-led coalition died in the conflict, togetherwith some 46,000 civilians and almost 70,000 Afghansoldiers and police. The victors were the Taliban, a non-state armed group that used insurgent tactics includingassassinations, suicide bombings and kidnappings toachieve success. Its leaders framed this extreme violenceas a triumph of good over evil, belief over unbelief,ideology over ambiguity. On their terms, they had fought ajust warMy research project will examine the personal weight ofthis public narrative from the perspective of men who killedon behalf of the Taliban. Using extended semi-structuredinterviews with insurgents, I will create life histories ofTaliban militants involved in killing at different stages ofthe perpetration process: propagandists, logisticians, footsoldiers and commanders. Through these life histories, Iwill examine how moral injuries and wounds of the soulincluding depression, post-traumatic stress disorder andperpetration induced trauma have impacted non-statearmed actors in one of the most significant wars of theearly twenty first century. Whether or not religious beliefand ideology mitigate feelings of guilt and shame withinthe Taliban will be one of the key questions I aim toanswer.