Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: December 2013

The year it became ‘Afghan versus Afghan’

AAN Team •

Stars and Stripes, 30 December 2014 AAN’s country director in Afghanistan, Kate Clark, is extensively quoted in this year-ender: Kate Clark, a senior analyst with the Afghanistan Analyst Network, said the war for Afghans looks completely different than it did a year ago. “I think the nature of the war is changing,” she said. “It’s […]

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Some Things Got Better – How Much Got Good? A review of 12 years of international intervention in Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

2013 marked the year in which the international community started to wrap up many of the initiatives to re-build Afghanistan – arguably the biggest international effort since the post-Word-War-II Marshal Plan. But where did this effort leave the country? For AAN’s year-end piece, co-director Thomas Ruttig has summarised what has happened, what has been achieved – […]

International Engagement Read more

V Afganistane nikde nie je úplne bezpečne

Thomas Ruttig •

Pravda (Slovakia), 27 December 2013 The Slovak daily newspaper prints a short interview with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, assessing the strength of the Taleban and the outlook for Afghanistan in 2014, after two Slovak soldiers were killed in an attack in Kabul – bringing the country’s number of casualties to 3.

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Blick auf Afghanistan 2013/2014

Thomas Ruttig •

Radio Eins (Germany), 27 December 2013 Listen to the audio of a year-ender interview with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, pointing to the meagre military and socio-economic balance of the Western intervention and looking forward to the 2014 presidential election (in German).

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Unemployment, Crime Rising Ahead Of Troop Pullout

AAN •

Tolo News, 26 December 2013 The head of the Kabul Crime Investigation Department said on Thursday that over the past two months poverty, crime and unemloyment have increased in the capital Kabul, "pointing to the foreign troop withdraw in 2014 as the main cause". 

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MPs Approve Five New Ministers [and two Supreme Court judges]

AAN •

Tolo News, 25 December 2013 

TheLwer House of parliament has approved five new ministers nominated by President Karzai's cabinet: Din Mohammad Mobarez Rashidi (166 votes) will be the new Minister of Counter Narcotics; Zarar Ahmad Osmani (183 votes) will be the Minister of Foreign Affairs; Akbar Barekzai (164 votes) becomes the new Minister of Mines; […]

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Merry Christmas!

AAN Team •

Here at AAN, we’d like to wish all our readers a Happy Christmas! May your holidays, in Afghanistan as well as abroad, be peaceful.   For those who remain in Kabul and wish to celebrate in style, AAN made a trip to Flower Street in Shar-e Naw to check on the availability of Christmas glitter and […]

Context and Culture Read more

Afghanistan-Experte fordert deutschen Neuanfang am Hindukusch

admin •

DTS/Berliner Umschau, 23 December 2013 The German news agency published a short summary of an interview with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig published by daily Frankfurtter Rundschau in which he criticised new German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen with visiting German soldiers in Afghanistan but not meeting any of her Afghan counterparts.

AAN in the Media Read more

“Ein Frieden mit den Taliban reicht nicht”

Thomas Ruttig •

Frankfurter Rundschau, 23 December 2013 On the occasion of Germany’s new defence minister’s first visit to Afghanistan, the Frankfurt-based daily interviewed AAN’s Thomas Ruttig. He started with criticising Ms van der Leyen for continuing her predecessor’s and chancellor Merkel’s approach of flying to Afghanistan without meeting President Karzai or their ministerial counterparts. He demands that […]

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Afghans set up Belgian protest camp in Mons

AAN •

BBC, 23 December 2013 Hundreds of Afghan asylum seekers have set up a protest camp in the Belgian town of Mons, demanding to meet Prime Minister Elio di Rupo to discuss their demands to be granted residency and a guarantee that none of them will be expelled.  

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Not a Promising Start: The vetting of the presidential and provincial council candidates

Gran Hewad • Kate Clark •

Buried in a pre-election assessment report by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) are concerns about the transparency with which presidential and provincial council candidates have been vetted. Peter Manikas, NDI’s Asia director, said at a press conference earlier this month that they were concerned that “a number of people who should have been eligible candidates […]

Political Landscape Read more

When NATO leaves Afghanistan

AAN Team •

IPS/Asia Times online, 19 December 2014 “Afghanistan’s 30 million people are deeply divided over whether President Hamid Karzai should sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with Washington”, writes Guiliano Battiston – although the headline is wrong: NATO is attempting to have a new military mission in Afghanistan after 2014. He quotes AAN’s Kate Clark in […]

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