Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: February 2011

Carla Grissman, Defender of the Kabul Museum Remembered (amended)

Kate Clark •

Carla Grissman, one of the great defenders of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage, has died in her eighties at her home in London. From 1969 she was involved in supporting the National Museum in Kabul. From its pre-war glory days as one of the best ‘small’ museums in the world(*), through to the worst of times – […]

Context and Culture Read more

19 February: AAN Briefing Paper ‘Untangling the 2010 Vote’

AAN • admin •

A new briefing paper by Martine van Bijlert provides a backdrop to the controversies surrounding the 2010 parliamentary vote. It presents an overview of the main publicly available electoral data and maps what information has been provided, what conclusions can be drawn and what information is still missing – either because it was not shared […]

Events Read more

Untangling Afghanistan’s 2010 Vote: Analysing the electoral data

Martine van Bijlert •

This new briefing paper by Martine van Bijlert provides a backdrop to the controversies surrounding the 2010 parliamentary vote. It presents an overview of the main publicly available electoral data and maps what information has been provided, what conclusions can be drawn and what information is still missing – either because it was not shared […]

Special Reports Read more

Shelters in the Storm: The Controversy over Women’s Safehouses

Sari Kouvo •

The Afghan government accuses women’s shelters of corruption, while women’s rights advocates criticize the government for believing rumors rather than facts and succumbing to the pressure of conservatives. Whatever the outcome of this controversy, the victims are likely to be the women who have sought refuge in the shelters – most of them fleeing situations […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Afghan imams wage political battle against U.S.

admin •

Washington Post, 17 February 2011 The authors look at what is preached in Kabul’s mosques during the Friday sermons – a find a lot of hatred and xenophobia against ‘these Christians and Jews’: . ‘Let these brothers of monkeys, gorillas and pigs leave this country. The people of Afghanistan should determine their own fate.

Recommended Reads Read more

Baseless Words – or: A Little Coaching for Christopher Hitchens

Thomas Ruttig •

A reply to Chistopher Hitchens’ under-researched rant against what he calls the human rights ‘activists’ community that ‘finally notices the Taliban’s war crimes’. AAN’s senior analyst Thomas Ruttig points to some reports that show how far this is from truth. There we get it: ‘The human rights community finally notices the Taliban’s war crimes. […] […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Guest Blog: Mining the ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’

Thalia Kennedy •

The big Logar copper mine of Mes-e Aynak, with its Buddhist finds, epitomizes a dilemma many countries are facing: excavate your natural resources or protect your cultural heritage (and natural environment). In Afghanistan, after three decades of violent conflict, the latter is threatened to lose out in this competition. But as the country’s archeological sites, […]

Context and Culture Read more

15 February 2011: AAN Briefing Paper analysing Jihadi language in a Taleban video

AAN • admin •

Inciting the Believers to Fight: A closer look at the rhetoric of the Afghan jihad While AAN in a series of recent papers has recently been looking at features of the Taleban movement in general, now it takes a look on one of its specifics: their propaganda. Our author Florian Broschk has dissected a rare […]

Events Read more

MPs unite and split, while Special Court raids the IEC

Fabrizio Foschini •

The Lower House of the Afghan parliament is still trying to overcome the difficult hurdle of electing its speaker. Different groups of MPs are arranging for alternative, if not conflicting, solutions. AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini listened to different opinions on the best way to get out of the impasse, and discusses their pro and cons. What […]

Political Landscape Read more

The Dangers of U.S. Militarism

admin •

Le Monde diplomatique (German), Febr. 2011 Herald Tribune author William Pfaff asks ‘the fundamental question’ whether it ‘has it been a terrible error for the United States to have built an all but irreversible worldwide system of a thousand or more military bases, stations and outposts’ and whether it has not, as planned, enhanced American […]

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Inciting the Believers to Fight: A closer look at the rhetoric of the Afghan jihad

Florian Broschk •

While AAN in a series of recent papers has recently been looking at features of the Taleban movement in general, now it takes a look on one of its specifics: their propaganda. Our author Florian Broschk has dissected a rare Dari-language propaganda video and the language used in it, a Salafi-influenced narrative of ‘oppression’ and […]

Special Reports Read more

Afghan Pay Demands Signal Troubles to Come

admin •

Wall Street Journal, 15 February 2011 ‘Prices of many staples and basic supplies have surged in Afghanistan, where public discontent is a security liability for the government in Kabul’ and ‘Where Afghans are paying more, it is often foreign nations footing the bill’, the author points out. He also gives interesting data on prices and […]

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