HUMA NITY
Our man in Kabul Rohan Titus (Class of 1991) reflects on eight years living in a warzone
by Reon Suddaby main images by Kiana Hayeri
B
etween October and April, the Hindu Kush mountain range is covered in heavy snow. For the rest of the year, the jagged peaks and the surrounding Afghanistan countryside are bone-dry. It is a harsh, unforgiving environment. Even the name Hindu Kush translates to ‘Killer of Hindus’. Afghanistan is a country steeped in tradition, but also in violence. From Alexander the Great, to Genghis Khan, through to the Afghan Civil War, the Soviet invasion of 1979 and more recently coalition operations against the Taliban, alQaeda and ISIL, for centuries the soil of the socalled ‘graveyard of empires’ has been stained with blood. For the past eight years, Afghanistan has also been home to Rohan Titus, firstly at the end of his 24 years of service with Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and in the past two years in his role as
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Chief of Political Affairs for the United Nations Assistance Mission. Mr Titus leads a small team in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul, a team which also has offices in Islamabad (Pakistan) and Tehran (Iran). His role is broad, encompassing stabilisation of the region and how its political leaders and Parliament function together. He views the character of the Afghan people as inextricably linked with their surrounds. “That countryside, that extreme highaltitude, dry, dusty, dirty atmosphere shapes the people. These are gutsy, gutsy people, their sense of survival in harshness is ten times ours. The Afghans are amazing in their fortitude and their perseverance. “You won’t ever meet a more generous or warm-hearted people, they’re very conscious of hospitality and their honour and their sense of personal dignity.” He is also acutely aware of the region’s turbulent past and its reverberations into the present.
