Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Editors Choice

  1. Education, an Ideal Corrupted: An assessment of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education Jelena Bjelica • • Economy, Development, Environment • 29 Oct 2017
  2. Education and Health Care at Risk: UN report paints grim picture of post-transition Afghanistan AAN Team • • Rights and Freedoms • 18 Apr 2016
  3. Pupils as Pawns: Plundered education in Ghor Obaid Ali • • Economy, Development, Environment • 27 Aug 2013
  4. Women Suffering, Women Looking for Ways Out: A photo exhibition in Barcelona Thomas Ruttig • • Rights and Freedoms • 27 Jan 2015

Spotlight

Reports Read more

Reports

War and Peace Political Landscape Rights and Freedoms Migration Economy, Development, Environment Regional Relations Context and Culture International Engagement

  • S Reza Kazemi • Kate Clark • 31 Jan 2022

    Who gets to go to school? (2) The Taleban and education through time

    In trying to understand Taleban policy on state education, especially for girls, our first report heard from people around the country. They painted a picture of primary schools for boys and girls, and boys’ secondary schools having generally re-opened after the Taleban captured power on 15 August, but of girls’ secondary schools opening only very patchily. […]

  • Kate Clark • AAN Team • 26 Jan 2022

    Who Gets to Go to School? (1): What people told us about education since the Taleban took over

    Taleban policy towards women and girls is one of the prisms through which the movement has been studied – and judged – ever since the Taleban first came to power in the mid-nineties. A touchstone for many Afghans and outside observers was whether, after capturing power nationally in August 2021, they would allow girls to […]

  • Ali Yawar Adili • 17 Jan 2022

    A Community Under Attack: How successive governments failed west Kabul and the Hazaras who live there

    The Hazara-Shia community in west Kabul city, particularly its sprawling neighbourhood Dasht-e Barchi, has been the target of some of the city’s deadliest attacks, especially since 2016. The community has particularly been hit hard in west Kabul, but Hazaras and Shias have also been persistently targeted elsewhere in Afghanistan. While the former government promised to […]

  • Head of the Culture Department in Ghazni, Mullah Habibullah Mujahid stands with toher Taleban next to a section of a wall of a former US military base with the names of US soldiers in Ghazni. Photo Hector Retamal/AFP, 15 November 2021

    Kate Clark • 7 Jan 2022

    War, War, War: A look at which AAN reports you were reading in 2021

    AAN publications in 2021 were dominated by our efforts to understand the conflict and the failing peace process. More than 40 per cent of our reports last year dealt with war and peace. For our readers, the subject was even more important: among our most-read reports, more than 70 per cent focussed on the conflict. […]

  • Fabrizio Foschini • 3 Jan 2022

    Afghanistan in World Literature (V): Two French portraits

    Over the years, AAN has written about how Afghanistan is portrayed in the literature of other countries. Such portrayals have been instrumental in shaping the views and impressions of the country up to the present and given the continuing influence of outsiders on Afghanistan, it seems important to map this literature. In this report, AAN’s […]

  • Taleban fighters celebrate their capture of Jalalabad, on 15 August 2021. Photo: AFP

    Kate Clark • 30 Dec 2021

    Afghanistan’s conflict in 2021 (2): Republic collapse and Taleban victory in the long-view of history

    For the first time in the long decades of conflict endured by Afghans since the 1978 communist coup sparked armed rebellion, Afghanistan is largely at peace. And for only the second time in that period, the country is under one unitary authority. This then is a historic moment, but will it last? In the second […]

  • Martine van Bijlert • AAN Team • 28 Dec 2021

    Afghanistan’s Conflict in 2021 (1): The Taleban’s sweeping offensive as told by people on the ground

    As Afghanistan’s former leaders publicly reflect and comment on the events that led to the fall of the Republic, it has been easy to lose sight of what those months in the summer of 2021 were like for the people who lived through them. In this first of two reports we look back at 2021’s […]

AAN ON TWITTERFollow

AAN Afghanistan
ShubhangaPShubhanga Pandey@ShubhangaP·
28 Jan

Important new series from the @AANafgh ‘Living under the new Taleban government’. First report on 'What people told us about education since the Taleban took over': https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/rights-freedom/who-gets-to-go-to-school-1-what-people-told-us-about-education-since-the-taleban-took-over/

Twitter 1486918228031021059
saidasadullah1SayedAsadullah sadat@saidasadullah1·
1 Feb

Taleban policy on state education, especially for girls, Please read @AANafgh's second report...
https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/rights-freedom/going-back-to-school-2-looking-at-the-taleban-and-education-through-time/

Twitter 1488463137263214597
Haroonehsan1Haroon Ehsan@Haroonehsan1·
1 Feb

Follow-up to the first AAN report is out. Third one is also on the way. https://twitter.com/AANafgh/status/1488394289247891457

Twitter 1488478594359779331
AANafghAAN Afghanistan@AANafgh·
1 Feb

"An education, once received, cannot be taken away. What it leaves behind is indelible – aspirations, expectations and a greater awareness of different options in life."
https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/rights-freedom/going-back-to-school-2-looking-at-the-taleban-and-education-through-time/

Twitter 1488394289247891457
thruttigThomas Ruttig@thruttig·
31 Jan

latest @AANafgh: #Taleban and schools, part 2
#Afghanistan https://twitter.com/AANafgh/status/1488050883338412034

Twitter 1488084535875186691
daveswordsDavid Edwards@daveswords·
31 Jan

Extremely informative, comprehensive and important report on situation of education in Afghanistan. Thank you Kate and AAN team. @eduint https://twitter.com/AANafgh/status/1486541993119469569

Twitter 1488114590152073217
azelinAaron Y. Zelin@azelin·
31 Jan

Who gets to go to school? (2) The Taleban and education through time - S Reza Kazemi, @AANafgh: https://bit.ly/34meODS

Twitter 1488127343403098115
rsurushRohullah@rsurush·
31 Jan

Why #Taleban don't let secondary schools re-open? Will #Taleban change their policy about girls' education? Please read @AANafgh's second report on this by @KateClark66 and Reza Kazimi here:
https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/rights-freedom/going-back-to-school-2-looking-at-the-taleban-and-education-through-time/

Twitter 1488161063455666192
SAK_SwedenSvenska Afghanistankommittén SAK/SCA@SAK_Sweden·
31 Jan

Recommended reading: A thorough report on attitudes towards education and barriers for girls and boys to attend school in Afghanistan. @AANafgh explores the current situation as well as the historical context in a three-part series.
https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/rights-freedom/who-gets-to-go-to-school-1-what-people-told-us-about-education-since-the-taleban-took-over/

Twitter 1488170087806906383
AANafghAAN Afghanistan@AANafgh·
31 Jan

"The basis of the Taleban’s ban on girls’ schooling [during the first Emirate] was precarious. As mullahs, it was impossible for them to argue that girls' education was unIslamic given that education plays such a primary role in the religion."
@KateClark66
https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/rights-freedom/going-back-to-school-2-looking-at-the-taleban-and-education-through-time/

Twitter 1488157695639175172
Load More...

Publications

Reports Special Reports Dossiers Other Publications

Who gets to go to school? (2) The Taleban and education through time

S Reza Kazemi • Kate Clark •

In trying to understand Taleban policy on state education, especially for girls, our first report heard from people around the country. They painted a picture of primary schools for boys and girls, and boys’ secondary schools having generally re-opened after the Taleban captured power on 15 August, but of girls’ secondary schools opening only very patchily. […]

Reports Read more

Who Gets to Go to School? (1): What people told us about education since the Taleban took over

Kate Clark • AAN Team •

Taleban policy towards women and girls is one of the prisms through which the movement has been studied – and judged – ever since the Taleban first came to power in the mid-nineties. A touchstone for many Afghans and outside observers was whether, after capturing power nationally in August 2021, they would allow girls to […]

Reports Read more

A Community Under Attack: How successive governments failed west Kabul and the Hazaras who live there

Ali Yawar Adili •

The Hazara-Shia community in west Kabul city, particularly its sprawling neighbourhood Dasht-e Barchi, has been the target of some of the city’s deadliest attacks, especially since 2016. The community has particularly been hit hard in west Kabul, but Hazaras and Shias have also been persistently targeted elsewhere in Afghanistan. While the former government promised to […]

Reports Read more
Head of the Culture Department in Ghazni, Mullah Habibullah Mujahid stands with toher Taleban next to a section of a wall of a former US military base with the names of US soldiers in Ghazni. Photo Hector Retamal/AFP, 15 November 2021

War, War, War: A look at which AAN reports you were reading in 2021

Kate Clark •

AAN publications in 2021 were dominated by our efforts to understand the conflict and the failing peace process. More than 40 per cent of our reports last year dealt with war and peace. For our readers, the subject was even more important: among our most-read reports, more than 70 per cent focussed on the conflict. […]

Reports Read more

New special report: ‘Between Hope and Fear. Rural Afghan women talk about peace and war’

Martine van Bijlert • AAN Team •

As the United States pushes ahead with the rapid and unconditional withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan, an unrelenting Taleban offensive has driven the Afghan government out of scores of districts across the country. Many Afghans are seeing their fears about the fallout from the ill-considered US-driven peace process come true. Against this backdrop, AAN’s […]

Special Reports Read more

New Special Report from AAN: “Kafka in Cuba, a Follow-Up Report: Afghans Still in Detention Limbo as Biden Decides What to do with Guantanamo”

Kate Clark •

As newly-elected United States President Joe Biden considers what to do with the almost two-decades-old ‘war on terror’ detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, we publish a special report on the last Afghans held there. Two Nangraharis, Asadullah Harun Gul and Mohammad Rahim, have both been detained since 2007. We also trace the fates […]

Special Reports Read more

New special report on Afghanistan’s newest local defence force: Were “all the mistakes of the ALP” turned into ANA-TF safeguards?

Kate Clark •

Today, AAN publishes a special report looking at Afghanistan’s newest local defence force, the Afghan National Army Territorial Force (ANA-TF). Set up by presidential decree in February 2018 and funded and supported by NATO’s United States-led Resolute Support mission, it was intended to be a lightly-armed, low-cost, local arm of the ANA which could hold […]

Special Reports Read more

New special report: ‘Ghosts of the Past: Lessons from Local Force Mobilisation in Afghanistan and Prospects for the Future’

Kate Clark •

A major new special report, ‘Ghosts of the Past: Lessons from Local Force Mobilisation in Afghanistan and Prospects for the Future’ looks at what is likely to make a local defence force – such as the Afghan Local Police (ALP) or Afghan National Army Territorial Force (ANA-TF) successful. This research sought to understand what makes some […]

Special Reports Read more

Dossier XXX: Afghan Women’s Rights and the New Phase of the Conflict

AAN Team •

Afghan women are generally more talked about than heard from. From 1978 and the start of Afghanistan’s conflict onwards, the argument over women’s rights and roles has been an ideological fault line running through multiple phases of the war. Girls education, women in the workplace, women’s rights in marriage and the household, and in the […]

Dossiers Read more

AAN Dossier XXIX: Living with the Taleban

AAN Team •

With the Taleban rapidly gaining ground in Afghanistan, it seemed useful to turn to AAN’s past research on what life under the Taleban has looked like for those living in insurgency-affected areas over the last few years. From December 2018 to January 2021, AAN conducted research first into how public services were delivered in a […]

Dossiers Read more

AAN Dossier XXVIII: Afghanistan in the Covid-19 Crisis

AAN Team •

Afghanistan has just entered the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic amid an unprecedented rise in confirmed cases, relatively unprepared. Apparently due to the relatively modest numbers during the second wave in November 2020, many Afghans became complacent about following health protocols and taking preventive measures. Complacency seems to have also been a factor in […]

Dossiers Read more
With intermittent fighting and rocket attacks throughout the day, election workers in the Awal Baba school voting centre in Maidan Shahr, had little work to do. Photo: Andrew Quilty, 2019.

AAN Dossier XXVII: Afghanistan’s contested 2019 presidential election and its aftermath

AAN Team •

A year on from Afghanistan’s fourth presidential poll since the fall of the Taleban regime, AAN is publishing all our reporting on the election and its aftermath in a new dossier. Our 37 AAN reports comprise coverage of the run-up to the election; on-the-day reporting; analysis of the controversies over counting, verifying and announcing the result, including our […]

Dossiers Read more

Afghanistan After the US Withdrawal: An Elusive Peace – Three Questions to Thomas Ruttig

Thomas Ruttig •

Institut Montaigne, 30 April 2021 The Paris-based nonprofit, independent think tank did an interview for its blog with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig to map out possible scenarios after the US and allied troop withdrawal from Afghanistan (in English).

Other Publications Read more

Have the Taliban Changed?

Thomas Ruttig •

CTC Sentinel, March 2021 This is a guest article by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig for the March 2021 issue of the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC’s) monthly Sentinel, at the Department of Social Sciences of the US’s West Point military academy. It is based on Thomas’s experience from working with the UN during and after the Taleban’s rule […]

Other Publications Read more

Afghanistan’s Divided Republican “Front”

Thomas Ruttig • Ali Yawar Adili •

ISPI online, 26 January 2021 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig and Ali Yawar Adili have co-authored an article for an Afghanistan dossier published on the website of the Italian Institute for the Study of International Politics (ISPI), dealing with the composition of the ‘Islamic Republic of Afghanistan team’ at the intra-Afghan negotiations with the Taleban that started […]

Other Publications Read more

Konfliktporträt Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 29 September 2020 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig has been writing a ‘conflict portrait’ of Afghanistan for the website of the German Federal Centre for Political Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, bpb) for several years now. the bpb is a major source for teachers and school students. Here is the latest version, update […]

Other Publications Read more

AAN in the Media

Recommended Reads

Subscribe to receive updates from the Afghanistan Analysts Network

Sign up