Power changes hands in Afghanistan

The crumbling of the 20-year US effort in Afghanistan, in a sudden collapse, illustrates the dynamics of coercive power in a heartbreaking way.

“You just didn’t want to lose face, and that’s unforgivable.”

A scene in the BBC drama Time shows a restorative justice meeting between a convicted murderer and his victim’s parents; it ends with the mother declaring that, because of the motive, the crime is ‘unforgiveable.’ This judgment reflects a gap between her dignity-culture logic and his honor logic.