ABSTRACT
With Kabul as its main backdrop, this chapter investigates the everyday realities of intervention through an exploration of the narratives and experiences of ‘the interveners.’ Drawing upon interviews and conversations, with aid workers, military, UN officials, diplomatic representatives, private contractors, and other external actors the chapter deconstructs the demographics of this diverse group and examines how they come to know Afghanistan and negotiate the space of intervention. The diversity of subjectivities, the hierarchies of life, and the pervasiveness of empire and eurocentrism are key themes that come into focus, as the chapter raises important questions about the relationship between knowledge and power in the context of intervention; mainly, how do we know the interveners and how do the interveners come to know Afghanistan and the intervention project they participate in?
