Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: June 2011

An Elected Local Council Finds Democracy Tough In Afghanistan

admin •

Radio Free Europe, 30 June 2011 An interesting reportage about an elected district council in Nejrab (Kapisa) and its difficulties with local commanders and other parts of the administration. By the way we learn here that the US and the UK are pushing to create 100 such councils country-wide. It is not clear, though, whether […]

Recommended Reads Read more

Parliamentary Crisis: The Supreme Court Steps In

Gran Hewad •

The resistance of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to implement the Special Electoral Court’s decision to replace 62 MPs due to alleged fraud, and the Supreme Court’s ruling that all decisions of the Wolesi Jirga are illegal until the 62 ‘new’ MPs take their place in parliament, have pushed this new institutional crisis to the […]

Political Landscape Read more

Cost Of Wars In Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan To Reach $3.7 Trillion: Report

admin •

Huffington Post, 29 June 2011 Read the summary of a Brown UNiversity report – and find the link to the full report there.

Recommended Reads Read more

Governor Ahmed Wali Karzai

admin •

Harpers Magazin, 29 June 2011 Excellent description by Matthew Aikins of the politicking surrounding governor’s appointments, the weakening stance of the internationals and the chances that this time Ahmad Wali might actually get what he wants.

Recommended Reads Read more

28 June 2011: AAN’s Kate Clark at Chatham House

AAN • admin •

AAN’s Kate Clark, author of the report ‘The Takhar attack: Targeted killings and the parallel worlds of US intelligence and Afghanistan’, will take part in another discussion on the issue of the US Kill/Capture strategy at the Chatham House in London. In July 2010 when General David Petraeus took command of NATO’s campaign against the […]

Events Read more

ATTACK ON KABUL INTERCONTI (updated)

Thomas Ruttig •

A group of six armed insurgents has stormed into Kabul Interconti hotel around 10 pm on 28 June. Around 22.40 local time, we heard a loud single explosion, followed by police cars with sirens approaching the area and heavy but sporadic small arms fire. The group resisted until 4.40 in the morning; the last three […]

War and Peace Read more

Guest Blog: Electoral Reform Must Start Now

Grant Kippen •

With the controversy between the Wolesi Jirga and the Special Election Court still continuing and throwing Afghanistan’s legislative into disarray, our guest blogger Grant Kippen(*) pleads for long-overdue election reform starting and bold steps now. There were two momentous announcements concerning Afghanistan this past week that will in their own and interconnected way have a […]

Political Landscape Read more

Governor of Afghan central bank flees

admin •

Financial Times, 27 June 2011 ‘The governor of Afghanistan’s central bank has fled the country in fear of his life after naming powerful individuals who benefited from a scandal at Kabulbank, the biggest lender’, writes Matthew Green. He quotes Fitrat saying that ‘[t]here are concerns that these powerful people will go unpunished. Ten months after […]

Recommended Reads Read more

Welfare for Dictators (how Pentagon billions are flowing to strongmen in the Middle East)

admin •

Newsweek, 26 June 2011 Aram Rostam looks at single-source Pentagon contracts awarded to companies that are owned by the ruling families of Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Bahrein (based on ‘laws’ made by those same families): ‘We may be essentially buying our presence.’

Recommended Reads Read more

Khas Uruzgan violence and ISAF press releases

Martine van Bijlert •

About ten days ago I received news of a nightly ALP raid in Khas Uruzgan, that had resulted in one death, four detainees, several severe beatings, some plunder and a fair amount of local anger. So when I spotted an ISAF press release about a meeting in the district, I assumed it was related to […]

War and Peace Read more

Special Court Suggests to Change 62 MPs: The Outgoing and The Outcome (amended)

Thomas Ruttig •

Herewith, we continue to report the changes in the Wolesi Jirga composition which would happen if the Special Election Court’s findings presented on Thursday would be implemented – which is not sure. Today, we present the final list of those MPs who would need to leave the house. Gran Hewad and Obaid Ali have put […]

Political Landscape Read more

Subscribe to receive updates from the Afghanistan Analysts Network

Sign up