Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Editors Choice

  1. Afghan Victims of War Crimes Want Investigation: Hundreds of thousands apply to ICC Ehsan Qaane • • Rights and Freedoms • 8 Feb 2018
  2. Women’s Rights after 2001: Progress, but much of it on paper only Thomas Ruttig • • Rights and Freedoms • 5 Oct 2011
  3. A Request to Delay: Another Afghan government attempt to prevent an ICC war crimes investigation? Ehsan Qaane • • Rights and Freedoms • 13 May 2020
  4. Have the Taliban Changed? Thomas Ruttig • • External publications • 29 Mar 2021

Spotlight

Reports Read more

Reports

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

  • Martine van Bijlert • 12 Sep 2021

    The Focus of the Taleban’s New Government: Internal cohesion, external dominance

    As the twentieth anniversary of al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks that brought the US to Afghanistan to topple the Taleban’s emirate came round, it was the Taleban who were back in power. This week, they announced their new interim administration. It is all-male, almost all-Pashtun, almost all clerical and all-Taleban. Set alongside their sustained military campaign in […]

  • Hannah Duncan • Kate Clark • 6 Sep 2021

    Afghanistan’s looming economic catastrophe: What next for the Taleban and the donors?

    When the Taleban captured Kabul, it ruptured Afghanistan’s relationship with the international community. The problems now facing its aid-dependent economy and new Taleban rulers are rapidly piling up. Adding to the damage already wrought by conflict, pandemic and drought, foreign aid is now suspended and in doubt, the treasury is empty and foreign reserves held […]

  • Martine van Bijlert • 1 Sep 2021

    The Moment in Between: After the Americans, before the new regime

    Monday night, Centcom Commander General Kenneth McKenzie announced the withdrawal of United States forces from Afghanistan as complete, while the Taleban declared the country once again a “free and sovereign nation.” After the last American soldier left Afghan soil, Taleban forces giddily moved into the last part of Kabul airport that had still been in […]

  • school girls

    Rachel Reid • Ehsan Qaane • 23 Aug 2021

    UN Human Rights Council to talk about Afghanistan: Why so little appetite for action?

    The United Nation’s Human Rights Council is holding a Special Session on Tuesday (24 August) to discuss the human rights situation in Afghanistan – both past and present. The resolution they will be considering has been drafted by Pakistan, the Taleban’s main international backer. Pakistan is currently the human rights coordinator of the Organisation of […]

  • Kate Clark • 21 Aug 2021

    The Taleban’s rise to power: As the US prepared for peace, the Taleban prepared for war

    It seems likely that the twentieth anniversary of the al-Qaeda’s 2001 attacks on the United States – the event that brought the American military to Afghanistan – will be remembered for the start of the second Taleban emirate. After President Joe Biden announced the full, rapid and unconditional withdrawal of all international military forces from […]

  • Martine van Bijlert • 19 Aug 2021

    The Taleban leadership converges on Kabul as remnants of the republic reposition themselves

    The various Taleban leaders have started converging on Kabul. The ever-elusive but eminently reachable, Taleban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahed showed his face for the first time in a press conference at Kabul’s media centre. What he said matched earlier messaging by the Taleban, as he sought to assure both the Afghans and the international community of […]

  • Martine van Bijlert • 17 Aug 2021

    Afghanistan Has a New Government: The country wonders what the new normal will look like

    Afghanistan has a new government. Its exact shape is not yet clear, but its contours can be discerned from a combination of messaging, how the Taleban entered and then took control of Kabul and reports from areas that had come under their control over the last few weeks, months and years. So far, the public […]

AAN ON TWITTERFollow

AAN Afghanistan
AANafghAAN Afghanistan@AANafgh·
13 Sep

On the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that brought the US to Afghanistan to topple the Taleban, it was the Taleban who were back in power. Their new interim administration is all-male, almost all-Pashtun, all clerical and all-Taleban. https://aan.af/3C0fiLy

Twitter 1437287455607201793
AANafghAAN Afghanistan@AANafgh·
12 Sep

Many of the Taleban government’s newly appointed officials are on US and/or UN sanctions list, two of them have an FBI bounty on their heads. This, says AAN’s Martine van Bijlert, complicates the new government’s chances of receiving international aid. https://aan.af/3C0fiLy

Twitter 1437159200577175552
AANafghAAN Afghanistan@AANafgh·
12 Sep

As the twentieth anniversary of al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks that brought the US to Afghanistan to topple the Taleban emirate came round, the Afghan people were facing with a new administration that is heady with victory and in no mood for compromise. https://aan.af/3C0fiLy

Twitter 1437083941169770500
AANafghAAN Afghanistan@AANafgh·
12 Sep

The Taleban's newly announced cabinet, their military campaign in Panjshir and violent response to protests show that their priorities have coalesced – internal cohesion, monopolisation of power, silencing dissent and dividing the ‘spoils of war.’ https://aan.af/3C0fiLy

Twitter 1437015675260837896
AANafghAAN Afghanistan@AANafgh·
12 Sep

Many of the Taleban government’s newly appointed officials are on US and/or UN sanctions list, two of them have an FBI bounty on their heads. This, says AAN’s Martine van Bijlert, complicates the new government’s chances of receiving international aid. https://aan.af/3C0fiLy

Twitter 1436925059835301891
AANafghAAN Afghanistan@AANafgh·
12 Sep

On the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that brought the US to Afghanistan to topple the Taleban, it was the Taleban who were back in power. Their new interim administration is all-male, almost all-Pashtun, all clerical and all-Taleban. https://aan.af/3C0fiLy

Twitter 1436858354752794625
AunohitaAunohita Mojumdar@Aunohita·
7 Sep

Its seems neither the Taliban nor the international community seem prepared to address the question of what people in Afghanistan are going to live on. Read this excellent report by @AANafgh https://twitter.com/KateClark66/status/1434823794368163841

Twitter 1435114578589802502
thruttigThomas Ruttig@thruttig·
7 Sep

clearly largest protest so far. 4 issues converging: women rights/freedom as the trigger over the past days; panjshir; pakistan's role; possibly econ. grievances (bank closures, rising prices). on the latter, see latest @AANafgh report:
https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/economy-development-environment/afghanistans-looming-economic-catastrophe-what-next-for-the-taleban-and-the-donors/ https://twitter.com/TOLOnews/status/1435147137411649541

Twitter 1435209809326968836
AANafghAAN Afghanistan@AANafgh·
6 Sep

Afghanistan's banking crisis and sudden cuts to aid mean the Afghan economy is now in free fall. As Hannah Duncan and Kate Clark report, mitigating economic disaster would require revising existing sanctions regimes and continuing aid. https://aan.af/3yXsuiB

Twitter 1434984926273753097
AANafghAAN Afghanistan@AANafgh·
6 Sep

The problems facing Afghanistan's aid-dependent economy and new Taleban rulers are rapidly piling up. As Hannah Duncan and Kate Clark report, mitigating economic disaster would require revising existing sanctions regimes and continuing aid. https://aan.af/3yXsuiB

Twitter 1434947072638205952
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Publications

Reports Special Reports Dossiers Other Publications

The Focus of the Taleban’s New Government: Internal cohesion, external dominance

Martine van Bijlert •

As the twentieth anniversary of al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks that brought the US to Afghanistan to topple the Taleban’s emirate came round, it was the Taleban who were back in power. This week, they announced their new interim administration. It is all-male, almost all-Pashtun, almost all clerical and all-Taleban. Set alongside their sustained military campaign in […]

Reports Read more

Afghanistan’s looming economic catastrophe: What next for the Taleban and the donors?

Hannah Duncan • Kate Clark •

When the Taleban captured Kabul, it ruptured Afghanistan’s relationship with the international community. The problems now facing its aid-dependent economy and new Taleban rulers are rapidly piling up. Adding to the damage already wrought by conflict, pandemic and drought, foreign aid is now suspended and in doubt, the treasury is empty and foreign reserves held […]

Reports Read more

The Moment in Between: After the Americans, before the new regime

Martine van Bijlert •

Monday night, Centcom Commander General Kenneth McKenzie announced the withdrawal of United States forces from Afghanistan as complete, while the Taleban declared the country once again a “free and sovereign nation.” After the last American soldier left Afghan soil, Taleban forces giddily moved into the last part of Kabul airport that had still been in […]

Reports Read more
school girls

UN Human Rights Council to talk about Afghanistan: Why so little appetite for action?

Rachel Reid • Ehsan Qaane •

The United Nation’s Human Rights Council is holding a Special Session on Tuesday (24 August) to discuss the human rights situation in Afghanistan – both past and present. The resolution they will be considering has been drafted by Pakistan, the Taleban’s main international backer. Pakistan is currently the human rights coordinator of the Organisation of […]

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

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 […]

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