Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: September 2013

Afghanistan, présidentielle: L’heure est aux tractations

AAN Team •

AFP/Infosoir, 8 September 2013 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted here on alliance building for Afghanistan’s 2014 presidential elections: «Il est normal qu’il n’y ait encore aucun candidat officiel. Des alliances vont se nouer jusqu’à la dernière minute et probablement même après la date limite de dépôt des candidatures. Des candidats pourraient tout à fait décider de […]

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Iran’s interests in Afghanistan

AAN Team •

Loopcast, 6 September 2013 On Loopcast, a security and technology podcast, Thomas Ruttig discusses Iran’s historic, political and economic interests in Afghanistan and the recnt Afghan-Iranian sign strategic cooperation MoU. This is a 45-minutes audio and part of a series of Iran-related podcasts.

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Back to Bad: Chahrdara between Taleban and ALP – a district case study

Lola Cecchinel •

Chahrdara, an embattled district in Kunduz province, is a miniature model for all of Afghanistan’s larger conflicts. Traditionally a hotbed of the insurgency, military interventions could never bring lasting change, so Chahrdara – under heavy foreign siege in 2010 (1) – is back to where it was: a Taleban stronghold in the north. At the same […]

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Afghan poll candidates rush to register after dealmaking frenzy

AAN Team •

AFP, 6 October 2013 Another article quotes AAN’s recent analysis on the upcoming elections: Karzai has called for just two or three contestants to remain in the race on polling day to avoid the chaos of the 2009 vote when 40 names appeared on the ballot paper. Martine van Bijlert, of the Afghan Analysts Network, […]

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The rise and fall of an Afghan strongman

AAN Team •

al-Jazeera, 6 September 2013 Based on his extensive reporting on Ghor province, one of the poorest in Afghanistan, this is Obaid Ali’s first article for the Qatar-based outlet, looking inti Ghor’s education system and the influence of local commanders on it.

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Afghan army poorly trained, paves way for western troops to stay after 2014 – NATO commander

AAN Team •

Voice of Russia, 6 September 2013 Article on Voice of Russia website on the state of the Afghan army refers to an AAN dispatch from February 2013 by guest author Gary Owen: “The ANA cannot keep the people it needs, train the people it does have, or adequately supply the people it manages to train,” […]

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The price of negotiating

AAN •

AfPakChannel, 5 September 2013 The Middle East Institute's Marvin Weinbaum, a former US diplomat in Afghanistan, argues that "the illusion that talks with the Afghan Taliban can result in a grand bargain" and the belief "that there exists a shortcut to ending the Afghan conflict" should both be shed. Attention should be given to "needed domestic reforms" in […]

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News: Afghan National Army soldiers showing initiative during generator course

AAN •

dvids, 3 September 2013 No, we did not make this up. (You also can subscribe to the author of this piece. We are sure more Pulitzer material will come out of him.)

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Afghanistan: Was zu beweisen war

AAN Team •

Stimme Russlands, 4 September 2013 Uncovering a secret that never was one, the German language service of Russia’s state radio reports ISAF commander Dunford’s “revealing” that there will be US combat troops in Afghanistan after 2014. AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted here as answering to the question whether that means that the NATO mission has […]

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“Eine mörderische Entscheidung”: ARD zeigt Doku-Drama über die Kundus-Affäre (not online)

AAN Team •

Nordwestradio (Bremen), 4 September 2013 Tonight, German public TV will show a docu-movie about the German-ordered airstrike in Chahrdara district four years ago, 4 September 2009, that killed up to 142 people, many of the civilians. Will this start a debate about the responsibility for this attack — for which a German court found that […]

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Enemy Inside the Wire: The Untold Story of the Battle of Bastion

admin •

GQ, September 2013 Matt Aikins latest story: One year ago this month, under cover of night, fifteen Taliban, dressed as American soldiers, snuck onto one of the largest air bases in Afghanistan. What followed was a bloody confrontation highlighting a startling security lapse, with hundreds of millions in matériel lost in a matter of hours—the worst […]

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Afghanistan’s forces losing more than a few good men. And women

AAN Team •

The Guardian, 3 September 2013 Article quotes AAN dispatch: ‘But there have long been concerns about the durability of such a rapidly assembled force. A recent US government report found that in the six months to March 2013, the Afghan national army lost men at an average rate of over 3% each month. That amounts to over […]

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