Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: November 2012

Disputed Ownership of Afghan Site Used by NATO

admin •

IWPR, 30 November 2012 According to the governor of the province, the US military has purchased land for a base in southern Logar – where it even has swallowed part of the main Kabul-Gardez road – from six people who even didn’t own it. The deal was done when late Abdullah Wardak – a Sayyaf […]

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After the Executions: What approach to the death penalty?

Thomas Ruttig •

After the execution of 14 prisoners last week, Afghan civil society has rightly ridiculed the Taleban who demanded an end to executions. But it has not taken up the question of the death penalty in Afghanistan in general. Capital punishment is legal under both the Afghan penal code and sharia. Even so, the well-known problems […]

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Ängste vor dem Abzug

AAN Team •

Tageszeitung (Berlin), 29 November 2012 In the context of the German parliament’s debate about an extension of the Bundeswehr mandate for ISAF Afghanistan, Thomas Ruttig’s writes about post-2014 perspectives, with a focus on the 2014 election, the succession debate in Afghanistan and the discussion about whether there should be foreign, UN-mandated members of the Election […]

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‘Es ist ja kein vollständiger Abzug’

AAN Team •

Deutschlandfunk .de, 29 November 2012 Transcript of a full radio interview (in German) with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, discussing post-2014 scenarios and the role the international community needs to play for stabilisation. The radio station chose ‘It is not a full withdrawal’ (in 2014) as the headline, indicating that not only many in the public but […]

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New Commissioners for Human Rights: An End to the Standstill, or an End to Human Rights? [Amended]

Sari Kouvo •

A reshuffle of the commissioners of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) seems to be moving closer. However, the criteria along which new candidates are chosen remain unclear and subject to (factional) politicking. There is a grave danger that human rights concerns will fall victim to these unrelated considerations. At least four new appointments […]

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‘Der Abzug kommt zu früh und zu spät’

AAN Team •

ARD tagesschau.de, 28 November 2012 Full interview (in German) with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig: ‘I believe that it is in the interest of the governments who have sent troops into ISAF to present the situation in Afghanistan as more stable than it really is. Otherwise, the decision to withdraw the larger part of combat troops by […]

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Was kommt nach dem deutschen Truppenabzug?

AAN Team •

ARD tagesschau.de, 28 November 2012 AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini on Germany’s main TV channel’s website about Afghanistan’s future development: ‘The worry I have is not a civil war in Kabul. The political elite will possibly be able to prevent that they fall out with each other completely and fires rockets at each other. I am worried […]

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‘Antaam’ statt ‘Itaam’: Nato muss Mission in Afghanistan umtaufen

admin •

Spiegel online, 28 November 2012 NATO has decided to rename its post-2014 mission. Initially it was supposed to be called ‘International Training, Assistance and Advisory Mission (ITAAM). They found that too close to ‘Etteham’ (or Ittiham), a Dari word for ‘accusation’. The new name will be ANTAAM (Afghan Nato Training, Advisory and Assistance Mission).

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The Rise and Fall of the Kabul Bank – making the details public

Martine van Bijlert •

Much has been written about the Kabul Bank crisis. A series of confidential investigations and audits have described the legal violations and technical processes involved in the bank management’s fraudulent operations, and most of these reports were fairly widely leaked. Media appearances by the various protagonists and representatives of government institutions involved in the follow-up […]

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A Taleban Foothold in the North: Faryab fighting up after transition

Obaid Ali •

While the attention of the Afghan government and the media is focused on major battles in the south of the country, the Taleban are making further headway in a northern region after the closure of the Norwegian PRT in September. In Faryab province, the Taleban have already established footholds in far-flung mountainous areas and are […]

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U.S. Planning a Force to Stay in Afghanistan

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New York Times, 26 November 2012 US and NATO planners are ‘drawing up the broad outlines of a force that would remain in Afghanistan following the handover to Afghan security after 2014’. This would include ‘a small [US] counterterrorism force with an eye toward Al Qaeda’ of ‘less than 1,000’ as well as ‘about 10,000 […]

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30 Nov/1 Dec 2012, Bonn: Medica mondiale conference with AAN participation

AAN • admin •

‘Hope for peace and fear for women’s rights in Afghanistan: Does violence against women endanger the peace process?’ is the title of a two-day conference, German women’s rights NGO Medica Mondiale is organising in cooperation with the Evangelic Academy in Bonn Bad Godesberg on 30 November 30 and 1 December 2012. AAN’s co-director Thomas Ruttig […]

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