Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: July 2010

Afghan civil society launches Access to Information campaign

AAN Team •

This morning a large number of Afghan civil society organisations and several media organisations used the media attention surrounding the Kabul conference to launch a campaign highlighting the need for access to information and calling for the necessary legislation to be drafted. The demand is an important one. The pervasive ambiguity, the lack of clarity […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

18 July 2010: Afghan Civil Society Launches Access to Information Campaign

AAN • admin •

This morning a large number of Afghan civil society organisations and several media organisations used the media attention surrounding the Kabul conference to launch a campaign highlighting the need for access to information and calling for the necessary legislation to be drafted. The demand is an important one. The pervasive ambiguity, the lack of clarity […]

Events Read more

The Alchemy of Vetting

Fabrizio Foschini • Gran Hewad •

The vetting process on parliamentary candidates that was concluded on July 6 has resulted in the exclusion of 36 candidates for alleged links with armed groups, and a remarkable amount of confusion and doubt among those who tried to follow the process closely. There has been a consistent and intentional lack of transparency on where […]

Political Landscape Read more

Der lange Schatten der Taliban (The Long Shadow of the Taleban)

admin •

Frankfurter Allgemeine, 14 July 2010 For German speakers: Read Friederike Böge’s reportage from Kandahar about a city in the grip of fear – and how the author tried to get hold of Taleban war poetry.

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Justice is missing from Afghanistan

admin •

Global Post, 13 July 2010 ‘What Afghans need is a transformation that ends a long pattern of human rights violations’, writes Norah Niland, until recently the chief UN human rights officer in Afghanistan, in an opinion piece.

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‘Fuck the Taliban’: US-Soldaten in Kundus (US Soldiers in Kunduz)

admin •

dpa, 13 July 2010 ‘After a prayer, the sergeant asks for a motto for the patrol. «Fuck the Taliban», one soldier proposes. «Fuck the Taliban», it echoes back from the platoon. A reportage by Can Merey from his embedded tour in Kunduz (in German).

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AfPak Behind the Lines: southern Afghanistan

admin •

AfPak Channel, 12 July 2010 Read an interesting interview with journalist Anand Gopal reporting from Kandahar who broadens our view at ‘local power brokers’ beyond Ahmad Wali Karzai and talks about the ‘success’ of NATO strikes against the Taleban in the area: that a younger, more radical generation of fighters takes over.

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Campaign Trail 2010 (2): Baghlan – Divided we Stand

Fabrizio Foschini •

Situated in a central position crossed by some of the most strategic road connections of the country, Baghlan province shows a high level of social and political fragmentation. The growing instability of the province does not bode well for the oncoming elections, and forecasts future problems for the government and the international forces in the […]

Political Landscape Read more

UK court rules on detainee transfers and the risk of torture

Kate Clark •

Judges at the Royal Courts of Justice in London have given a ‘mixed ruling’ on a bid to stop UK forces transferring detainees to the Afghan intelligence directorate, the NDS. They found that there was risk of torture – which should make transfers illegal – but ruled that they could continue to be transferred to […]

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Six years late, the Constitutional Commission is formed; but will it take on president and parliament?

Sari Kouvo •

One of the many ambiguities in the Afghan Constitution is on who has the authority to interpret the Constitution. For no obvious reason a mix of both judicial and legislative oversight was smuggled into the Constitution when it was adopted in 2004. Six years later, the Independent Commission for the Supervision of the Implementation of […]

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Talking Pashto (1): One-Liner of the Week

Thomas Ruttig •

Today, we start a little series with important Pashto expressions for field use. It is meant to complement the electronic translation computers handed out to the international forces which – reportedly – contain useful phrases like: “Lasuna porta!” (Hands up!), “Mulla Omar cheri dey?” (Where is Mulla Omar?) and “Hawayi maidan kum taraf dey?” (Which […]

Context and Culture Read more

Talking Haqqani

Thomas Ruttig •

‘Totally baseless, a lie and no truth in it’. This is what an Afghan presidential spokesman said after a not-too-unimportant TV station reported contacts between Kabul and the Haqqani network, the most ruthless outfit of the Afghan insurgency. Is there no fire at all for all the smoke? asks Thomas Ruttig. It all started with […]

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