Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Editors Choice

  1. Food Aid in a Collapsed Economy: Relief, tensions and allegations Martine van Bijlert • AAN Team • • Economy, Development, Environment • 23 May 2022
  2. Kabul’s Expanding Crime Scene (Part 1): The roots of today’s underworld Fabrizio Foschini • • Context and Culture • 11 Feb 2020
  3. Don’t Call That Warlord a Warlord Antonio Giustozzi • • War and Peace • 4 Mar 2010
  4. Chechens in Afghanistan 1: A Battlefield Myth That Will Not Die Christian Bleuer • • Regional Relations • 27 Jun 2016

Spotlight

Reports

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

  • Fabrizio Foschini • 26 Sep 2023

    Keep on Moving on the Balkan Route: No quarter for Afghan asylum seekers in Croatia and Serbia

    The number of Afghan refugees moving along the Balkan Route has remained very high this summer. A large proportion of those taking the long trip to central, western and northern Europe are in their early twenties and many are under-age. From Turkey, they usually cross Greece and Bulgaria in order to reach Serbia. Once there, […]

  • Kate Clark • 20 Sep 2023

    New UN Report Charts the Emirate’s Treatment of Detainees: Allegations of torture and ill-treatment

    UNAMA has released its first report dedicated to the treatment of detainees since the Taleban takeover and alleges that the use of torture by the police and General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) is “systemic.” The report details methods of torture familiar to earlier generations of detainees – electric shocks, beating and suspension – but also […]

  • Thomas Ruttig • 16 Sep 2023

    Chinese Investments in Afghanistan: Strategic economic move or incentive for the Emirate?

    When the West withdrew from Afghanistan, many assumed its acquisitive neighbour, China, would reap the economic benefits of the change of government in Kabul. Afghanistan has immense, but largely untouched mineral and hydrocarbon wealth, including strategically valuable metals, such as lithium. That assumption was fed in the first half of 2023 by a flurry of […]

  • Ali Mohammad Sabawoon • Roxanna Shapour • 11 Sep 2023

    The Daily Hustle: Crossing the Durand Line to visit family in Pakistan

    The story of Afghan families is often one of loved ones separated by long distances and national borders. Every year, many Afghans who have family living in neighbouring countries make the hours and sometimes days-long journey overland from Afghanistan, braving long bus rides, hours waiting to cross borders and the demands for payment by border […]

  • John Butt • 3 Sep 2023

    A Taleban Theory of State: A review of the Chief Justice’s book of jurisprudence

    In the second of our mini-series on Taleban publications, this report examines what may be the fullest and most authoritative account yet of what the Taleban believe an Islamic state should look like. In his book, ‘Al-Emarat al-Islamiya wa Nidhamuha’ (The Islamic Emirate and its System of Governance), the Islamic Emirate’s Chief Justice, Abdul Hakim […]

  • Fabrizio Foschini • 30 Aug 2023

    Extensive but not Inclusive: Afghanistan’s growing list of national holidays

    August has already seen two days of national public holidays in Afghanistan and will see a third this week, celebrating the anniversary of the departure of the last United States troops on the 31st. That follows the celebration of Taleban forces’ entry into Kabul on 15 August 2021, which sealed the fate of the Islamic […]

  • Jelena Bjelica • AAN Team • 17 Aug 2023

    What Do Young Afghan Women Do? A glimpse into everyday life after the bans

    Since coming to power, the Taleban authorities have issued many edicts, decrees, declarations and directives limiting, restricting, suspending or banning basic freedoms for women and girls. Afghan women are no longer free to go to public parks, gyms and other public spaces and are banned from boarding planes and leaving the country on their own; they cannot […]

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AANafgh avatar; AAN Afghanistan @AANafgh ·
28 Sep 1707266427013476787

Every day, hundreds of Afghans try to reach Europe on the Balkan route; these young Afghans face various treatments and obstacles posed by the various states they cross. Fabrizio Foschini reports on Croatia and Serbia about their experiences. #Afghanistan

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Keep on Moving on the Balkan Route: No quarter for Afghan asylum seekers in Croatia and Serbia -...

The number of Afghan refugees moving along the Balkan Route has remained very high this summer. A large proportion...

bit.ly
AANafgh avatar; AAN Afghanistan @AANafgh ·
28 Sep 1707206026531938662

‘We walked until Zagreb. Now we’re waiting for the new location from our contact. … Altogether, for the trip, Bosnia to Italy [with locations], you pay $700 if the trafficker is a friend; otherwise, $800.” Afghanistan

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Keep on Moving on the Balkan Route: No quarter for Afghan asylum seekers in Croatia and Serbia -...

The number of Afghan refugees moving along the Balkan Route has remained very high this summer. A large proportion...

bit.ly
AANafgh avatar; AAN Afghanistan @AANafgh ·
27 Sep 1707107915318927508

"There were people coming back to the camp whose phones had been broken or stolen by the Croatian police. We crossed a forest which had no paths. Luckily we met no police, although we could hear the drones buzzing over our heads." #Afghanistan

Image for twitter card

Keep on Moving on the Balkan Route: No quarter for Afghan asylum seekers in Croatia and Serbia -...

The number of Afghan refugees moving along the Balkan Route has remained very high this summer. A large proportion...

bit.ly

Publications

Reports Special Reports Dossiers Other Publications

Keep on Moving on the Balkan Route: No quarter for Afghan asylum seekers in Croatia and Serbia

Fabrizio Foschini •

The number of Afghan refugees moving along the Balkan Route has remained very high this summer. A large proportion of those taking the long trip to central, western and northern Europe are in their early twenties and many are under-age. From Turkey, they usually cross Greece and Bulgaria in order to reach Serbia. Once there, […]

Reports Read more

New UN Report Charts the Emirate’s Treatment of Detainees: Allegations of torture and ill-treatment

Kate Clark •

UNAMA has released its first report dedicated to the treatment of detainees since the Taleban takeover and alleges that the use of torture by the police and General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) is “systemic.” The report details methods of torture familiar to earlier generations of detainees – electric shocks, beating and suspension – but also […]

Reports Read more

Chinese Investments in Afghanistan: Strategic economic move or incentive for the Emirate?

Thomas Ruttig •

When the West withdrew from Afghanistan, many assumed its acquisitive neighbour, China, would reap the economic benefits of the change of government in Kabul. Afghanistan has immense, but largely untouched mineral and hydrocarbon wealth, including strategically valuable metals, such as lithium. That assumption was fed in the first half of 2023 by a flurry of […]

Reports Read more

The Daily Hustle: Crossing the Durand Line to visit family in Pakistan

Ali Mohammad Sabawoon • Roxanna Shapour •

The story of Afghan families is often one of loved ones separated by long distances and national borders. Every year, many Afghans who have family living in neighbouring countries make the hours and sometimes days-long journey overland from Afghanistan, braving long bus rides, hours waiting to cross borders and the demands for payment by border […]

Reports Read more
Head of customs for the Hairatan border crossing in Balkh province, Abdul Sattar Rashid (second left), with other Taleban on the Afghanistan-Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge.
The Taleban moved swiftly to organise and regularise the collection of customs and taxes as they took power in 2021. Photo: Wakil Kohsar/AFP, 27 October 2021

New AAN Special Report: “Taxing the Afghan Nation: What the Taleban’s pursuit of domestic revenues means for citizens, the economy and the state”

Kate Clark •

As insurgents, the Taleban taxed farmers, businesses and NGOs in areas under their control, using the money to fund their war effort. On taking power in August 2021, they swiftly moved to collect taxes in the whole of the country. That serious-minded pursuit of domestic revenue collection is both a practice carried over from the […]

Special 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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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The Afghan Economy Since the Taleban Took Power: A dossier of reports on economic calamity, state finances and consequences for households

Kate Clark • AAN Team •

When the Taleban captured power on 15 August 2021, the Afghan economy suffered sudden and catastrophic damage from all sides. Foreign aid fell away, United Nations and United States sanctions applied suddenly not to an armed movement but to the country’s government, Afghanistan’s foreign reserves were frozen, the banking sector paralysed, and the web of […]

Dossiers Read more

Not at COP27, but Already in Crisis: A dossier on Afghanistan and the climate emergency

Thomas Ruttig •

Afghanistan is projected to be the sixth most badly affected country by climate change but is also among the lightest emitters of greenhouse gasses. Yet, it is not represented at the COP27 conference, a meeting of the member countries of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change now underway in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh. Afghanistan signed […]

Dossiers Read more

Creating the ‘Idea’ of a Country: The ‘Afghanistan in World Literature’ dossier

Fabrizio Foschini •

How do foreign literary works shape attitudes towards Afghanistan and Afghans? That is the subject of this dossier which brings together AAN reports from its ‘Afghanistan in World Literature’ series. Over the years, we have written many pieces on this subject, spurred not only by a passion for everything related to Afghanistan, but also by […]

Dossiers 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

Afghanistan’s War Economy

Thomas Ruttig •

Maldekstra, 22 September 2022 This article was contributed by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig to a special issue of the international affairs journal Maldekstra (no 16, September 2022), published by German Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, titled “Economy in War.” His contribution looks at the two categories of profiteurs from the last Afghan war, the international military-industrial complex and […]

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Who Opposes the Taliban? Old Politics, Resistance and the Looming Risk of Civil War

Fabrizio Foschini •

ISPI, 11 August 2022 This article by AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini is a contribution to a dossier published by the Milan-based Italian Institute for International Political Studies and edited by Giuliano Battiston and Nicola Missaglia, titled “Afghanistan, One Year Later.” He looks at three groups in particular, the political that “lack[s] the means to effectively influence Afghan […]

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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 […]

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