Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: July 2012

Afghan-led? or: People with one name only

Thomas Ruttig •

Tom Peter, the Christian Science Monitor correspondent in Kabul, just wrote a story how US soldiers in Arghandab district had denied him access for 90 minutes to the local district governor with whom he had scheduled an interview and who did not want him to bring in his tape recorder. He wondered ‘how much control […]

Context and Culture Read more

Correcting Details: More on the NYT Reporting the Human Rights Mapping

Kate Clark •

The New York Times piece ‘Top Afghans Tied to ’90s Carnage, Researchers Say’ ‘revealed’ what everyone knows and rarely says, that many of today’s senior Afghan politicians have murky pasts. Talking about the war crimes of the last thirty years has proved difficult for Afghans and the international powers alike. The decision, in 2005, to […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Afghan war: Who’s in charge, again?

admin •

Christian Science Monitor, 30 July 2012 Reporter Tom Peter didn’t think to bother the US troops, who shares a base with him, when scheduling an appointment with the district governor of Arghandab in Kandahar province. Read what happened. And when finished reading, imagine you’re an AFGHAN reporter. Or a relative of someone arrested.

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Libya and Afghanistan: Elections without a social contract

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Long queues at polling centres, happy voters waving inked fingers in front of cameras, and musings on how a new, better era was in store for Libya – sounds like Afghanistan 2004. Our guest blogger Ann Mac Dougall(*), who has worked in both countries, cannot help wondering whether Libya will follow the Afghan pattern from […]

Political Landscape Read more
The ruined Dar-ul-Aman palace. Photo: Thomas Ruttig.

The Cloak of Silence: Afghanistan’s Human Rights Mappings

Ahmed Rashid •

On 22 July, the New York Times came out with an article on human rights abuses in Afghanistan which it wrote up based on a document that has neither been published (although it is waiting for publication since many months, and Afghan groups have now demanded that it finally happens)(1) nor it apparently has been […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Flash from the Past: Afghans’ Shattered 2000 Olympic Dreams (amended)

Kate Clark •

The 2012 Olympic Games start today in London with half a dozen Afghans representing their country in taekwondo, boxing, judo and athletics (1) and at least two Para-Olympians competing in weight-lifting and athletics (2). AAN’s senior analyst, Kate Clark, was in Kabul during the 2000 Olympics, when potential Afghan contenders had to stay at home […]

Context and Culture Read more

Even the Taliban eat ice-cream – Afghan confectioner beats the odds

admin •

Guardian, 26 July 2012 Emma Harrison’s must-read story about The Icecream-Maker of Herat, for which she even sacrifices herself as a tester of different flavours – with astonishing results. And also congratulations for her to condemning the ‘most annoying’ automatic tunes the icecream sellers are playing (and surely suffering from all day): Celine Dion’s Titanic […]

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Clashes in Eastern Tajikistan – with Afghan Participation?

Thomas Ruttig •

Local media speak of ‘unprecedented violence’, after Tajik security forces have started a ‘special operation’ against what the government in Dushanbe calls an ‘armed, illegal group involved in drug trafficking and also tobacco smuggling and the trafficking of minerals’, following the murder of a high-ranking security official. Interestingly, it has claimed there were Afghan citizens […]

Regional Relations Read more

Corruption A Cost Of Life For Ordinary Afghans

admin •

RFE/RL, 26 July 2012 A very graphic description by Frud Bezhan of how Afghans experience every-day corruption, in the cases of exaggerated electricity bills and when obtaining a passport

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GAO: Military lowering bar to evaluate Afghan troop progress

admin •

CNN blog, 25 July 2012 A new GAO report found ‘key definitions used in ANSF assessments have changed several times and assessments did not fully measure ANP (Afghan National Police) capability until recently.’

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Afghan Cabinet Raises Concern About Mining Legislation, to West’s Unease

admin •

Afghan Cabinet Raises Concern About Mining Legislation, to West’s Unease New York Times, 23 July 2012 A group of Afghan cabinet ministers and senior officials last week objected to the draft legislation as kowtowing to foreign mining interests, reports the Times. And Ashraf Ghani is quoted on a crucial point: ‘Will the advisers [who helped […]

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Flash to the Past: The Mess in Afghanistan

admin •

New York Review of Books, 12 February 2004 very rightly so, Ahmed Rashid is upset about The New York Times that wrote up a report on human rights abuses in Afghanistan based on a document that it has suddenly discovered or noticed billing it as an exclusive. He has sent an earlier article of him […]

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