Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: January 2011

Guest Blog: Afghanistan on stage in Germany

Kathrin Ost •

In our events column, we had announced a new theatre performance in the German town of Potsdam, not far from Berlin, dealing with Afghanistan which opened on 12 January. Now we offer the personal impressions of Kathrin Ost(*), a young and promising German actress, who attended the opening performance. What do I know about Afghanistan? […]

Context and Culture Read more

Lost voices of Afghanistan (audio)

admin •

BBC World Service, 21 January 2011 Remind yourself of the lost voices of Afghanistan: Afghans read and discuss war poetry. Beautiful, harrowing and very human.

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Who Benefits from Taliban Revisionism?

admin •

Guardian, 21 January 2011 The Afghan government is trying to whitewash the Taliban’s image by claiming it no longer opposes education for girls, argues Rachel Reid from Human Rights Watch.

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The President’s Verdict: No Parliament till mid-February

Fabrizio Foschini • Gran Hewad • Thomas Ruttig •

On a remarkably busy winter day, the dreams of many former participant in the past September elections to take up her/his job in Parliament soon were shattered by the President’s ruling to delay the house’s inauguration for another month. Meanwhile, the opposite hopes of a multitude of ‘disappointed candidates’ – i.e. the losers of 18 […]

Political Landscape Read more

Fears over child recruitment, abuse by pro-government militias

admin •

IRIN, 20 January 2011 Pro-government militias in parts of Afghanistan are believed to be recruiting underage boys and sometimes sexually abusing them in an environment of criminal impunity, local people and human rights organizations say, among them AIHRC and UNICEF.

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26 January 2011 Chatham House: No Shortcut to Stability

AAN • admin •

The authors of ‘No Shortcut to Stability: Justice, Politics and Insurgency in Afghanistan’ – AAN’s Senior Analyst Kate Clark and independent analyst Stephen Carter – will be speaking about the report at an event at Wednesday Chatham House on 26 January 2011. The Asia Programme meeting will take place at Chatham House, 10 St James’s […]

Events Read more

Kabul – Tunis

Thomas Ruttig •

The support for elections and the democratic movement in Tunisia promised by the EU and EU member governments seems to concentrate more on process than on content of elections. This sounds familiar from an Afghan angle. AAN’s Senior Analyst Thomas Ruttig was hoping that governments had learned from Afghanistan’s elections disasters – but hears the […]

Political Landscape Read more

Tactical or genuine? The Taleban’s ‘new education policy’

Thomas Ruttig •

This time, the Times Education Supplement (TES) has the latest scoop about the Taleban. The article with the headline ‘Taliban “backs girls’ education”’ has already been picked up around the world. But it is worth to look at the source of the sensational statement. It is not from Mulla Omar’s ‘Quetta shura’ but from Kabul’s […]

War and Peace Read more

Flash from the Past: … but not without snow

Kate Clark •

Ten years ago, AAN’s senior analyst Kate Clark was reporting on the first snow of the 2000/2001 winter for the BBC from Kabul which, then, was still ruled by the Taleban; people then were hoping a horrific drought would finally be breaking. An estimated twelve million Afghans had been hit by crop failure, many were […]

War and Peace Read more

Building for Eternity? The Issue of the US Afghan Bases (amended)

Thomas Ruttig •

Will the US really withdraw (most of its) its troops – those who will not be rebranded ‘trainers’ and advisors’ like in Iraq – by 2014? Is general Petraeus following his own timeline? For sure, the US is planning to keep (some of) its bases in Afghanistan, and it is expanding them rapidly. A US […]

War and Peace Read more

Guest Blog: Legal Pluralism – Decentralization of the Rule of Law?

Michael Daxner •

The discussion about how Afghanistan’s legal system should work and its three components – state, customary and Islamic law (sharia) – should relate to each other has been going on ever since 2001, without a clear result. Even the constitution leaves loopholes that are reflected in the legal practice. Currently, the Afghan government works on […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Rogue militias abuse rural Afghans

admin •

al-Jazeera, 12 January 2011 Villagers and regional leaders accuse semi-official Arbakai of extortion and violence as country forms new local force in Afghanistan’s northeastern provinces of Kunduz and Baghlan. ‘They are supposed to protect us from the Taliban,’ a fermale employee in an international organisation in Kunduz told the authors, ‘But it is difficult to […]

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