Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: March 2014

Observatører flygter fra Taliban forud for afghansk valg

admin •

Denmarks Radio, 31 March 2014 In this article on elections observation in Afghanistan, AAN's Thomas Ruttig is quoted: – Valget bliver formentlig ligesom i 2009, hvor der var omfattende svindel. 20 procent af stemmerne blev dengang kasseret efter indgriben fra de FN-udpegede medlemmer af valgklagekomitéen, siger den tyske Afghanistan-ekspert Thomas Ruttig til Politiken. Han er […]

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Observatører flygter fra Taliban før afghansk valg

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Ekstrabladet (Denmark), 31 March 2014 AAN's Thomas Ruttig is quoted here on expected fraud duting the upcoming Afghan elections, pre-election violence and problems for the election observers:  – Valget bliver formentlig ligesom i 2009, hvor der var omfattende svindel. 20 procent af stemmerne blev dengang kasseret efter indgriben fra de FN-udpegede medlemmer af valgklagekomitéen, siger […]

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External publication (in German): Militarisierung der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (The Militarisation of Aid)

Thomas Ruttig •

Afghanistan Info (Neuchâtel), March 2014 (not online) Thomas Ruttig, “Militarisierung der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit: Der jüngste Afghanistan-Krieg als Auslöser eines Besorgnis erregenden Trend” (Militarisation of Development Cooperation: The recent Afghanistan war as trigger of a concerning trend), Afghanistan Info, Neuchâtel, no. 74 (March 2014), pp 8-9. Issue no 74 of the publication of the Swiss Committee for the Support of […]

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Taliban ramp up attacks to discredit Afghanistan’s upcoming election

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AFP/Japan Times, 31 March 2014 In an article looking at the pre-election wave of violence in Kabul, AAN's Thomas Ruttig is quoted: Thomas Ruttig of the Afghan [sic] Analysts’ Network said that after the efforts at peace talks in recent years with the Kabul government and its Western allies produced no results, “Taliban are drifting […]

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What the Polls Tell Us About the Afghan Presidential Election

Matthieu Aikins •

Is it possible to predict the upcoming Afghan elections on the basis of polling data? There are severe methodological challenges in collecting accurate survey data in a country like Afghanistan, and, given how young the country’s democracy is, not much past data on how well those predictions turned out. But surveys during the 2009 presidential […]

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Afghan Election Commission Attacked

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Wall Street Journal, 29 March 2014 In an article about the recent wave of attacks in Kabul, AAN's Thomas Ruttig is quoted: The escalating violence ahead of the April 5 election is unusual even by Afghan standards, and threatens to exceed levels that marred the country's previous election in 2009, said Thomas Ruttig, a co-founder […]

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Warlords to decide outcome of Afghan election

AAN •

Daily Telegraph, 30 March 2014 In an article looking at presidential candidate – and warlord – Sayyaf, AAN's Fabrizio Foschini is quoted on his election chances: Although unlikely to win he would garner decisive votes to put behind one of the two candidates that make it to a run-off, according to Fabrizio Foschini, of the […]

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Vesten har oppnådd lite i Afghanistan

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NTB/ACN Nyheter (Norway), 30 March 2014 AAN's Thomas Ruttig is quoted by the Norwegian news agency: Dagens styresett er langt fra godt, og bistanden har i stor grad vært bortkastet, mener Thomas Ruttig i den norskstøttede tankesmia Afghanistan Analysts Network. – Mesteparten av bistanden har enten vært bortkastet eller har vært brukt på en lite effektiv måte, […]

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Afghan Singers Fall Silent

AAN •

IWPR, 24 March 2014 Most weddings are held without music again in many parts of Nangrahar province, reports Kabul-based IWPR, due to influence of the Taleban. Musicians struggle to survive and their profession is in danger again: as one musician relates: "Three years ago, we would go out to weddings in the districts. There were […]

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Taliban attacks intensify in bid to upend Afghan presidential vote

AAN •

Christian Science Monitor/Alaska Dispatch, 28 March 2014 Following a wave of Taleban violence against election-related institutions and foreigners in Kabul, AAN's Fabrizio Foschini is quotes here with his analysis: “For the Taliban, the main hope is violence,” says Fabrizio Foschini, an Afghanistan politics expert with the Afghanistan Analysts Network in Kabul. “The only game-changer for […]

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Enough with the Killing of Civilians! The Serena attack and the civil society response

Susanne Schmeidl •

The war is getting dirtier, writes Susanne Schmeidl, member of and guest contributor to AAN, looking at the Serena attack and its victims, particularly the women and children. We have to assume that everything and everybody is fair game in the Taleban’s fight against – “well, against what?” she asks, and “for whom?” Schmeidl gives […]

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Kandahar, cradle of Afghan insurgency, torn by tribal rivalry ahead of vote

AAN •

Reuters, 27 March 2014 Growing violence before the elections despite doubling of security forces ahead of the elections, a rift in the Karzai family with one leading member campaigning for Ashraf Ghani and a remarkable quote from a tribal leader: "People in Kandahar are tired of exclusive rule by the president's brothers, while other tribes have […]

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