Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: November 2010

27 November in Berlin: An Afghanistan play

AAN • admin •

The Berliner Compagnie, a Berlin-based free-lance troope known for their political theatre (‘Who killed Ken Saro-Wiwa?’, “Terra! Terra!’) is touring with its latest production ‘Die Verteidigung Deutschlands am Hindukusch’ (Germany’s Defence at the Hindukush, a paraphrase of former Defence Minister Struck) since almost two years. Who hasn’t seen it yet gets another chance this Saturday […]

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Giving Thanks on Black Friday

Thomas Ruttig •

Parental advisory: Attention, attention! The following blog is satirical. People without a sense of humour are strongly advised to stop reading here. Thank you to Imroz TV for displaying the moral rottenness of the West through its misidentification of one previously unknown individual as a representative of the world community. Thank you to Mark Sedwill […]

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The Taliban troop with an east London cab driver in its ranks

admin •

The Guardian, 24 November 2010 Interesting account of a day and a night spent with the Taleban in Dehan-e Ghori in Baghlan, including a visit to a local checkpoint, conversations with the shadow district governor, an IED layer and fighters who spend most of their time in Europe, and a US nightraid with all its […]

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2010 Elections (33): An almost final result

Thomas Ruttig •

Finally, more than two months after E-Day, we’ve got them: the final results of yet another of Afghanistan’s fraud-ridden elections. Or have we? After today’s announcement by the Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC), we know 238 out of the 249 members of the lower house, the Wolesi Jirga – something which the IEC called a […]

Political Landscape Read more

Former Guantanamo Bay adversaries visit ethics class

admin •

Penn State University website, 23 November 2010 Former Guantanamo prosecutor and defence attorney discuss the case of Jawed, an Afghan minor who was ultimately released – after the prosecutor resigned and came out in his defence.

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2010 Election (32): Crimes, misdemeanours but no consequences?

Gran Hewad •

When the final result of Afghanistan’s parliamentary election is published tomorrow (Wednesday)(*), this saga might be over for much of the outside world. Because the process has become so bungled, there will be a big sigh of relief: ‘at least we have the list of the MPs now’. Not so for many Afghans. So called […]

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Afghan peace talks in a holidaymakers’ paradise

admin •

BBC, 23 November 2010 An interesting account of the third round of this meeting, in terms of the participants (including MPs, civil society and ‘representatives of the two vice presients’ from Kabul but not from the government as well as, reportedly, those of the Taleban, HIG and the Haqqani network) as well as atmosphere – […]

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Pakistan: The Embattled Sikhs in Taliban Territory

admin •

Time, 22 November 2010 This reportage from Peshawar describes the Sikh and Hindu community there, growing as a result of displacements elsewhere in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Former Pakistani Taleban leader Hakimullah Messud had demanded they either convert to Islam, leave their ancestral land or pay a lump-sum jizya (head tax) of 140,000 dollar

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Five Things David Petraus Wants You to Believe

admin •

Current Intelligence, 22 November 2010 Alex Strick van Linschoten explains: “Petraeus wants to present an empirically valid case for continuing along the current course — the so-called “default position” turbo-charged with all the money and weapons the heart could ever want. Petraeus wants to use all these “masses of data” to make you believe five […]

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Taliban Leader in Secret Talks Was an Impostor

admin •

New York Times, 22 November 2010 ‘An episode that could have been lifted from a spy novel’ – or told by Mulla Nasreddin: The highest-ranking Taleb people in Kabul had been talking to after ‘heaving been flown to Kabul on a NATO aircraft and ushered into the presidential palace’ (apparently Western diplomats also saw him) […]

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Five Things Worth Watching

Martine van Bijlert •

In early November several of AAN’s analysts and members gathered in Stockholm, to brainstorm, exchange ideas and participate in the annual SCA conference. We started the discussions by doing a quick round, asking everyone what the one or two issues were that are likely to be central, or that should not be forgotten, as we […]

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Why a forlorn Karzai is breaking with the West

admin •

Financial Times, 18 November 2010 Ahmad Rashid, after having spoken to him for two hours, discusses how Karzai now sees the world, how that has changed over the years and what that means for the cooperation with the West (no indications of breaking with the West yet, despite the FT headline).

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