Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: September 2011

Pashto Women’s Poetry – A Mirror of their Social Status?

Naheed Esar Malikzay •

“My love will gather us both together on the day of resurrection Brutes have placed stones between us in this world.” – On Friday, 16 September, the Mirman Baheer Association, a Pashtun women’s socio-cultural network, met in Kabul.* It was the third gathering of Pashto women poets by the Association and it brought together more […]

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Tehran hosted Taliban event, seeks Afghan role

admin •

Washington Post, 29 September 2011 A Taleban delegation, consisting of Nik Mohammad and possibly Tayyeb Agha, registered as the “American Opposition Forces”, participated in Tehran’s recent Islamic Awakening conference. The representatives did not address the conference and apparently did not meet with the Afghan delegation led by Rabbani, although some members had noticed their presence.

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10 myths about Afghanistan

admin •

Guardian, 27 September In 1988, the Soviet army left Afghanistan after a concerted campaign by the western-backed mujahideen. But since then, many enduring myths have grown up about the war-torn country. In his new book, Jonathan Steele sorts the fact from the fiction.

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Death of Rabbani (4): Former Taleban Director of Ariana Airlines was the key go-between

Kate Clark •

Details of the identities of two of the men involved in the plot to kill former president, Burhanuddin Rabbani, have been given to AAN by a person close to the Afghan government. These fresh details ultimately came from Rahmatullah Wahidyar, the member of the High Peace Council who was the conduit for the killer to […]

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The Death of Rabbani (3): Emerging details

Kate Clark •

Details about the assassination of Burhannudin Rabbani are trickling in, raising many questions. It is still unclear whether this was a Taleban authorised hit, a Taleban ‘rogue operation’ or the work of another group. At the funeral, President Karzai said ‘the blood of the martyr and other martyrs of freedom requires us to continue our […]

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23 September 2011: AAN’s Sari Kouvo in cooperation with the European Network for NGOs in Afghanistan (ENNA) hosts a discussion about civil society in Afghanistan in Brussels, Belgium

AAN • admin •

AAN’s Sari Kouvo in cooperation with the ENNA Brussels’s office organised an informal information-sharing event for Brussels-based think tanks and civil society organisations. The aim of the event was to share information about Afghanistan-related advocacy and policy in Brussels and about civil society activities in the run up to the high-level conference on Afghanistan in […]

Events Read more

State failure (Killing of Hazaras in Baluchistan)

admin •

Friday Times (Pakistan), 23-29 September 2011 In his editorial, Najam Sethi reports that ‘[o]ver 500 Shia Hazaras have been killed in Balochistan by Sunni extremists in the recent past. Last Tuesday, a bus was waylaid near Quetta by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorists who mowed down 26 Shia passengers in cold blood. A month earlier, a story in […]

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A Message for Peace in the Middle of War

Sari Kouvo •

While the killing of the Head of the High Peace Council on Tuesday certainly sent a strong message that peace will not be easily attained in Afghanistan, Afghan civil society organizations have used the week around World Peace Day celebrated on 21 September to campaign for peace, sending messages that peace has to be attained […]

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The Death of Rabbani (2): Taleban silence

Kate Clark •

The killing of Burhannudin Rabbani was a treacherous act. Pretending to be a peace emissary, his assassin gained entry to his home and killed him while the two men were greeting each other, presumably while saying salaam alekum. It is not yet clear if this was the work of the Taleban. They have yet to […]

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20 September 2011: AAN’s Sari Kouvo contributed to the NY University’s Abu Dhabi Institute’s Gender and Counter-Terrorism debate

AAN • admin •

AAN’s Sari Kouvo served as commentator at the launch of the report ‘A Decade Lost: Locating Gender in U.S. Counter-Terrorism’ at the NY University’s institute in Abu Dhabi.

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The Death of Rabbani

Kate Clark •

One of the most senior Afghan leaders has been killed in a suicide bombing at his home in Kabul. Burhanuddin Rabbani was a founder and leading activist in the Afghan Islamist movement in the 1960s and 1970s, one of the seven leaders of the (Sunni) mujahedin parties in the 1980s and – at least formally […]

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