Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Editors Choice

  1. A Potential Afghan Spill-Over: How Real Are Central Asian Fears? S Reza Kazemi • • Regional Relations • 12 Dec 2012
  2. Copper and Peace: Afghanistan’s China dilemma Thomas Ruttig • • Regional Relations • 11 Jul 2015
  3. From Point Zero to ‘New Warmth’: Russian-Afghan relations since 1989 Thomas Ruttig • • Regional Relations • 8 Aug 2014
  4. Refugees or Ghosts? Afghans in Turkey face growing uncertainty   Fabrizio Foschini • • Migration • 9 May 2022

Spotlight

Reports

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

  • Roxanna Shapour • 4 Jun 2023

    The Daily Hustle: Being a widow in Afghanistan

    The word most often used by Afghans to refer to widows is bisarparast (without someone to take care of you). In Afghanistan’s highly patriarchal society, where men are expected to be the breadwinners and opportunities for women to work are relatively few, being a widow is likely to be socially and economically precarious. They are often stigmatised, […]

  • Ehsan Qaane • 26 May 2023

    Gender Persecution in Afghanistan: Could it come under the ICC’s Afghanistan investigation?

    Since their return to power in August 2021, the Taleban have enacted successive laws and orders which apply to women and girls, but not to men and boys. Earlier this month, United Nations experts reported their assessment that these measures violated women and girls’ rights to education, work, freedom of movement, health, bodily autonomy and […]

  • Kate Clark • Roxanna Shapour • 10 May 2023

    What Do the Taleban Spend Afghanistan’s Money On? Government expenditure under the Islamic Emirate (Amended)

    When our readers told us about some errors in our report: ‘What Do The Taleban Spend Afghanistan’s Money On? Government expenditure under the Islamic Emirate,” we started checking and cross-checking our sources and the report. We found that several budget lines in the operational budget for the security sector in the 1400 (2021) Q4 mini-budget […]

  • Kate Clark • 8 May 2023

    Lashing, Beating, Stoning: UNAMA tracks corporal punishment and the death penalty in Afghanistan

    A new United Nations report on capital and corporal punishment has detailed the widespread use of corporal punishment delivered ad hoc by non-judicial authorities, such as the police and ‘Vice and Virtue’ officials. It also documents a rise in corporal punishment ordered by judges since November 2022 when the Taleban’s Supreme Leader encouraged the use […]

  • Kate Clark • Roxanna Shapour • 5 May 2023

    A Ban, a Resolution and a Meeting: A look at the May 2023 meeting in Doha and the reactions to it

    The 1-2 May 2023 gathering in Doha, hosted by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, brought together the representatives of 21 countries – the five permanent members of the Security Council, major donors and regional players, plus the European Union and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. They spent two days talking about how to engage with […]

  • Kate Clark • 30 Apr 2023

    The May 2023 Doha meeting: How should the outside world deal with the Taleban?

    United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is due to host a two-day meeting on Afghanistan with foreign envoys, beginning tomorrow, 1 May 2023, in the capital of Qatar, Doha. The Taleban have not been invited. AAN understands from sources from invited countries that the idea for the meeting emerged from visits to Kabul in January by […]

  • Fabrizio Foschini • 24 Apr 2023

    Hearts Turned Away from Music: Afghan musicians’ paths to exile

    A year and a half after the Taleban takeover, music has completely disappeared from Afghan streets, TV channels, radios, cars and wedding halls. It barely survives in more personal and subdued forms and volumes – inside a house with tightly closed windows or shutters, inside headphones on one’s smartphone. The world, and Afghanistan more so, […]

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aanafgh AAN Afghanistan @aanafgh ·
5 Apr

Our readers alerted us of some errors in this report related to mislabelling of several budget lines in the operational budget for the security sector in the 1400 Q4 mini-budget, which also affected the text of the report. See the revised report here. https://bit.ly/3LHbpDB

aanafgh AAN Afghanistan @aanafgh ·
27 Mar

After years of conflict that created barriers between the countryside and urban areas, residents of cities in #Afghanistan can now visit their home villages. They themselves have changed, but what about the villages? http://bit.ly/3yZt9Cx

aanafgh AAN Afghanistan @aanafgh ·
27 Mar

Can you go home again? In a new AAN report, we hear from four people who returned to their ancestral villages in #Afghanistan after years of living in cities. http://bit.ly/3yZt9Cx

aanafgh AAN Afghanistan @aanafgh ·
26 Mar

What’s it like to go home after a long absence? A new AAN report by guest author Sabawoon Samim tells the stories of four city-dwellers who visited their ancestral villages in #Afghanistan. What did they expect and what did they find? http://bit.ly/3yZt9Cx

aanafgh AAN Afghanistan @aanafgh ·
26 Mar

Can you go home again? In a new AAN report, we hear from four people who returned to their ancestral villages in #Afghanistan after years of living in cities. http://bit.ly/3yZt9Cx

aanafgh AAN Afghanistan @aanafgh ·
26 Mar

What’s it like to go home after a long absence? A new AAN report by guest author Sabawoon Samim tells the stories of four city-dwellers who visited their ancestral villages in #Afghanistan. What did they expect and what did they find? http://bit.ly/3yZt9Cx

aanafgh AAN Afghanistan @aanafgh ·
25 Mar

People from all over Afghanistan used to travel to Mazar for the age-old #Nawruz flag hoisting ceremony at the shrine, but the Taleban cancelled it last year, a few months after they came to power. http://bit.ly/3ls1aIj #Afghanistan

aanafgh AAN Afghanistan @aanafgh ·
25 Mar

Moving interviews by guest author Said Reza Kazemi and AAN’s @saidasadullah1 from across #Afghanistan about little joys intermingled with great frustrations and a lacklustre Nawruz. http://bit.ly/3ls1aIj

aanafgh AAN Afghanistan @aanafgh ·
25 Mar

Better security in Taleban-controlled #Afghanistan allows city residents to travel to their home villages. Social and family relations are rejuvenated, but the return is bittersweet. http://bit.ly/3yZt9Cx

aanafgh AAN Afghanistan @aanafgh ·
25 Mar

After years of conflict that created barriers between the countryside and urban areas, residents of cities in #Afghanistan can now visit their home villages. They themselves have changed, but what about the villages? http://bit.ly/3yZt9Cx

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Publications

Reports Special Reports Dossiers Other Publications

The Daily Hustle: Being a widow in Afghanistan

Roxanna Shapour •

The word most often used by Afghans to refer to widows is bisarparast (without someone to take care of you). In Afghanistan’s highly patriarchal society, where men are expected to be the breadwinners and opportunities for women to work are relatively few, being a widow is likely to be socially and economically precarious. They are often stigmatised, […]

Reports Read more

Gender Persecution in Afghanistan: Could it come under the ICC’s Afghanistan investigation?

Ehsan Qaane •

Since their return to power in August 2021, the Taleban have enacted successive laws and orders which apply to women and girls, but not to men and boys. Earlier this month, United Nations experts reported their assessment that these measures violated women and girls’ rights to education, work, freedom of movement, health, bodily autonomy and […]

Reports Read more

What Do the Taleban Spend Afghanistan’s Money On? Government expenditure under the Islamic Emirate (Amended)

Kate Clark • Roxanna Shapour •

When our readers told us about some errors in our report: ‘What Do The Taleban Spend Afghanistan’s Money On? Government expenditure under the Islamic Emirate,” we started checking and cross-checking our sources and the report. We found that several budget lines in the operational budget for the security sector in the 1400 (2021) Q4 mini-budget […]

Reports Read more

Lashing, Beating, Stoning: UNAMA tracks corporal punishment and the death penalty in Afghanistan

Kate Clark •

A new United Nations report on capital and corporal punishment has detailed the widespread use of corporal punishment delivered ad hoc by non-judicial authorities, such as the police and ‘Vice and Virtue’ officials. It also documents a rise in corporal punishment ordered by judges since November 2022 when the Taleban’s Supreme Leader encouraged the use […]

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 […]

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 […]

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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 […]

Special Reports Read more

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 […]

Other Publications Read more

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).

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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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