Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: January 2013

AAN Reportage: What Sparked the Ashura Day Riots and Murder in Kabul University?

Borhan Osman •

Last November, on the day of Ashura, a Muslim religious day with particular importance for Shias who mourn the martyrdom of the Prophet’s grandson Hussain, clashes erupted between Sunni and Shia students in the dormitory of the Kabul University. The campus was literally turned into a battlefield. One student was killed and more than a […]

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افشای نام زمین‌خواران بزرگ [Names of Big Land-Grabbers Revealed]

admin •

Hasht-e Sobh (Kabul), 17 January 2013 After an investigation and lengthy debates in the Afghan parliament which finally declined to name the land grabbers, the Kabul-based daily reveals some names, including ‘parlamentarians and commanders’. See yourself.

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Ô BERGER TROUBLÉ – Les talibans, ces poètes méconnus

Other AAN •

Le Monde (blog), 16 January 2013 A blogger at the leading French daily picks up Thomas Ruttig’s review of Strick van Linschoten/Kuehn’s anthology of Taleban poetry in Kathmandu-based Himal magazine.

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Europa und Mali: ‘Jenseits’ des Krieges?

Other AAN •

Stimme Russlands (Russian radio), 16 January 2013 Asked about a comparison between Afghanistan and Mali, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig declined, but added that he was ‘surprised’ that French politicians, after their troops’ Afghanistan experience, were surprised about their Malian enemies’ training and fighting capability.

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Viele Afghanen kehren ihrem Land schon jetzt den Rücken

Other AAN •

Tageszeitung (Berlin), 15 January 2013 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig summarises – picking up Afghan media reports- cases of Afghan diplomats, officials, journalists, sportsmen and students not returning to Afghanistan from abroad, rising numbers of Aghan asylum seekers in western countries, the Hindu and Sikh minorities’ wish to leave the country and first cases of activists fleeing […]

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ISAF’s First Fifteen Days [in 2013]

admin •

A Different Place (blog), 15 January 2013 Alex Strick has been working on the ISAF press releases data again. As a little teaser (also for another AAN publication to come), here’s a chart comparing the first fifteen days of January in 2011, 2012 and 2013. It shows the number of ISAF operations in which someone […]

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Reed flute and gunpowder: Understanding the Afghan Taliban through their poetry

Other AAN •

Himal (Kathmandu), 14 January 2013 A review by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig of ‘The Poetry of the Taliban’, edited Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn (London: Hachette, 2012). He finds similarities with pre-war poetry, both in style and subject, and calls the anthology ‘not only a remarkable literary and sociological project but also a reminder […]

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A New ‘Foundation Force’? The ever murkier future of Afghan Special Operations Forces

Gary Owen •

One of the outcomes of the current US-Afghan summit in Washington reported by Afghan media is the apparent emergence of a new Afghan special operations force, the “Foundation Force for Afghanistan”. Still there is no official confirmation of this. Our guest blogger Gary Owen(*) writes, however, that this would be very much in line with […]

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The January 2013 Obama-Karzai meeting: sovereignty in exchange for immunity

Kate Clark •

The words of Presidents Karzai and Obama, who met in Washington, are now being weighed and scrutinised in an attempt to determine what they are planning for Afghanistan over the next few, crucial years. The headline news was ISAF moving to a support and advisory role sooner than planned, with phase 5 of the security […]

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Legenden und Sagen vom Hindukusch

Other AAN •

Stimme Russlands (Russia), 11 January 2013 The German service of Russian radio quotes AAN’s Thomas Ruttig on the role of ISAF forces: ‘Die westlichen Truppen sind einerseits stabilisierend – auch in den Augen des großen Teils der afghanischen Bevölkerung. Sie sind aber auch ein destabilisierender Faktor, denn sie werden auch weiterhin ein Angriffsziel bleiben. Die […]

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Afghanistan: The challenge of ‘good’ vs ‘bad’ militias

Other AAN •

Christian Science Monitor
, 11 January 2013 AAN’s Gran Hewad is quoted extensively here about militias in Kunduz, talking about a related ‘new wave of insecurity in Kunduz’. He adds that new militias ‘are the proxy forces undermining the rule of law and national government…. They have fought people, looted, burned houses, abducted, and raped women […]

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