Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: August 2010

Campaign Trail 7: The young candidates’ challenges

Gran Hewad •

Almost one fifth of the candidates running for Kabul in the upcoming parliamentary election are young, between 25 (the minimum age required by the law to run) and 35 years old. The proportion of young candidates varies, but provinces with big urban centres like Balkh, Nangrahar and Herat tend to have more. Some of these […]

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Ten Dead in Badakhshan 7: An Afghan aid worker speaks up

Belquis Ahmadi •

Belquis Ahmadi(*) is an Afghan aid worker who had known, cooperated and traveled with Tom Little under the most difficult conditions of the 1990s civil war. Read her warmly commemorating the slain aid worker in this guest contribution to our blog. My heart began to ache when I saw the name – Tom Little – […]

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Campaign Trail 6/2: Loya Paktia, Strongmen and Parties

Fabrizio Foschini •

In the second part of his pre-election analysis of Loya Paktia – with the three provinces of Paktia, Paktika and Khost -, AAN researcher Fabrizio Foschini takes a closer look at some of the candidates, the equilibrium of power that shapes their chances in the 18 September poll and ponders what will happen to the […]

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Afghan Encounters in Europe or: How My Grandma Saw King Amanullah – Part 2

Thomas Ruttig •

Thomas Ruttig takes you on a short trip on Afghan traces in central Europe, this time encountering Afghanistan’s cultural heritage saved from looting and destruction and shown at a museum in Germany’s former capital. II. Bonn on the Rhine One of the major cultural venues in the town that was (West) Germany’s capital for more […]

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Campaign Trail 6/1: Loya Paktia, elections without campaign and (many) voters

Fabrizio Foschini •

Loya Paktia, as the three provinces of Paktia, Paktika and Khost are sometimes referred to, is one of the portions of Afghanistan most hardly affected by the insurgency. With a long history of low degree of state control and an equally long border shared with Pakistan’s FATA, the region does not look like the perfect […]

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Afghan Encounters in Europe or: How My Grandma Saw King Amanullah – Part 1

Thomas Ruttig •

Summertime, vacation time. But an Afghan analyst finds it difficult to get away from his chosen subject even then. Sometimes, even pure chance leads him back on track – as on a short trip through Switzerland and Germany. Travel notes from Thomas Ruttig. I. La Gruyère, Switzerland This little town in the Fribourg Alps, known […]

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Kabul’s kitschy wedding cake architecture

Anne Feenstra •

Kabul is a city of dramatic contrasts. In the streets, shiny black-windowed limousines drive immediately alongside scruffy pushcarts with wobbly wheels. On the sidewalks, one-legged beggars hold out hands to well-dressed business men in sharp, knitted suits and gleaming shoes. In the built environment, too, these contrasts seem nearly infinite writes our guest blogger Anne […]

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The Civilian Cost of Armed Conflict in Afghanistan: An Overview of Recent Reports

Sari Kouvo •

In July, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and UNAMA published their mid-year reports on civilian casualties and protection of civilians in the conflict in Afghanistan. AAN Senior Analyst, Sari Kouvo, takes a closer look at patterns identified on violations against – and protection of – civilians in the war in Afghanistan and brings in […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Pakistanis Say Taliban Arrest Was Meant to Hurt Peace Bid

admin •

New York Times, 23 August 2010 Dexter Filkins has got ink-on-white what everyone had assumed: Pakistan wants control over developments in Afghanistan.

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Campaign Trail 5: A pre-election visit to Paktika

Tina Blohm •

Paktika is not one of the most accessible places in Afghanistan. Hit by insecurity and forgotten by most development actors , Sharana, a dusty small town and the provincial capital, is a place rarely visited by outsiders. But thanks to the eager support to NGO involvement by the civilian team at the PRT in Paktika, […]

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Top Leaders Tied to Security Companies

admin •

Killid magazine (Kabul), 21 August 2010 An excellent piece of analysis on the links of people in the presidential camp as well as in the opposition former Northern Alliance to private security companies about to be banned – written by one of the brightest Afghan journalists.

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Ten Dead in Badakhshan 6: Local Taleban Say it was Murder

Kate Clark •

There has been the first on the record condemnation by a senior member of the Taleban of the killings of eight foreign aid workers in Badakshshan on 5th August. Qari Malang, the representative of the Western Nuristan Taleban front, told AAN the Nuristani Taleban considered the killings to be murder. The initial claim of responsibility […]

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