Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: October 2010

2010 Elections 20: What if the Hazaras win in Uruzgan? (updated)

Martine van Bijlert •

Afghanistan’s parliamentary election, as is by now well-known, is seriously pulled out of balance by fraud, insecurity and an unusual variation of the Single Non-Transferable Vote (SNTV), an electoral system that is prone to erratic outcomes. This has been played out rather illustratively in Uruzgan, where a small and secure corner of the province may […]

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2010 Elections 19: Two cases of electoral violence

Martine van Bijlert •

Afghanistan’s elections have been surrounded by a swirl of politicking and tricking, of wrangling and pressuring, of outcry and resignation, of threats and promises, and of outbursts of violence. They show how old habits die hard and how new prospects of power inspire violent behaviour – as Jawed Kohestani, the leader of the Freedom and […]

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Le «mapping report» sur l’Afghanistan: histoire d’un dossier escamoté

admin •

Le Temps (Geneva), 2 October 2010 «Dès décembre 2004, on a senti monter une certaine nervosité aux Nations unies à New York à propos d’une éventuelle publication», se souvient Patricia Gossman. Spécialiste de l’Afghanistan, chercheuse à l’International Center for Transitional Justice, elle a été l’un des trois rédacteurs du rapport. «Aucune raison officielle n’a été […]

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4/5 October: TLO presents Uruzgan report

AAN • admin •

Our partner organisation The Liaison Office (TLO) in Kabul has presented its latest report in the Netherlands’ parliament and in the Dutch Embassy in Kabul: ‘The Dutch engagement in Uruzgan’ – an analysis of the four-year Dutch civil-military engagement in this southern Afghan province that ended on 1 August this year. The publication of the […]

Events Read more

2010 Elections 18: A look at the first Khost ballot sheets (updated)

Thomas Ruttig •

Since a few days, the IEC posts – as promised in its pre-election transparency offensive – copies of the ‘result and tally sheets’ from the polling stations (PSt, vulgo: the boxes) on its website. This will make it difficult to tamper with the content of the boxes, i.e. stuff additional ballots into them post festum, […]

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Afghanistan Bird Watch 2: Birds on the Wire

Thomas Ruttig •

Earlier this afternoon shortly before grey clouds rising over Paghman let the sun disappear and brought a short drizzle, three bottle-green parakeets darted across the airspace over our AAN garden, between the high pine trees, the grapevines (that did not carry this year) and the neighbouring house’s wall on which his pigeons gather. This reminded […]

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The Afghan Election, as Seen by Karzai’s Brother

admin •

New York Times, 1 October 2010 Read a letter to the editor by Ahmad Wali Karzai, including the following: ‘Fixing the Afghan election is impossible, even if someone were foolish enough to try. […] Of course, as an elected official, I supported candidates, mostly from my own tribe, the Popalzai. And I worked hard for […]

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AAN In The Media – October 2010

AAN Team •

Ett fuskval ‘bra nog åt afghaner’ (Bogus elections good enough for Afghans) Fredskoalitionen, 31 October 2010 Valövervakare Martine van Bijlert från ‘Afghanistan Analysts Network’ beskrev den Oberoende Valkommissionens attityd på detta sätt: ”Om man vill veta var de övriga rösterna kommer ifrån, har de olagligt lagts till de ogiltiga, så nu har de avlägsnats, och […]

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Posner: The witch hunt of Mahmood Karzai

admin •

Washington Times, 1 October 2010 Mahmud Karzai’s lawyer speaks: The older brother of the President ‘is one of the few Afghan public figures brave enough to consistently call for a crackdown on corruption in his country’ and ‘has at times crossed American officials in the American Embassy in Kabul. Is it possible that a criminal […]

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