Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: October 2014

Afghanistan’s Ghani drops Pashtun name from official documents

Thomas Ruttig •

AFP/Asia One, 31 October 2014 “Thomas Ruttig of the Afghanistan Analysts Network said the decision to drop the name was a “good step” as the president works on making the new national unity government a success. He added that it was reminiscent of an initiative to remove tribal names undertaken by former president Mohammed Daoud […]

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China faces delicate task in Afghanistan

AAN •

Global Times and People’s Daily, 30 October 2014 The two leading official English-language newspapers of the People’s Republic carry the same commentary on President Ghani’s China visit – so this seems to be the official line: “Even when the last US soldier leaves, China will never take on the role played by the US and […]

Recommended Reads Read more

Afghanistan Opium Production At Record High Amid Instability, Slowing Economy And High Demand

Thomas Ruttig •

International Business Times, 29 October 2014 In this article about the expanding opium production in Afghanistan, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted: “The main profits on Afghan drugs are made outside of Afghanistan, as opium and its derivatives go to Europe,” Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent think tank based in Berlin […]

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China Pledges $327 Million in Aid to Afghanistan

AAN •

Wall Street Journal, 29 October 2014 In an article about the visit of President Ghani to China, AAN author (without being identified as such) Reza Kazemi is quoted: Said Reza Kazemi, a Ph.D. student who has studied the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process, said China was presenting itself as a stronger regional player. “China, if not […]

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Jäähyväiset Afganistanille

AAN •

YLE, 29 October 2014 Finnish TV draws a balance of the country’s part of the ISAF mission and quotes AAN co-founder Sari Kouvo: Ihmisoikeusjuristi Sari Kouvon mukaan tästä koitui operaatiolle sen suurin epäonnistuminen. – Maakunnissa oli parin vuoden ajan valtatyhjiö, mikä mahdollisti Talibanin ja muiden kapinallisten vahvistumisen uudelleen. Siinä hukattiin todellinen mahdollisuus, sanoo nykyisin EU:ssa […]

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Elections 2014 (54): Provincial council results creaking under the weight of manipulation

Martine van Bijlert •

The provincial council vote is finally over. It has been fully overshadowed by the drawn-out and contentious presidential election – as could be expected and has been the case in the past as well. Attention dwindled as election fatigue crept in, which meant that its separate audit and complaints processes were almost exclusively followed by […]

Political Landscape Read more
Presidents Ghani and Xi, during the former's second trip abroad, after umrah in Saudi Arabia. Photo c/o ToloNews.

On the Road through Beijing (and Kathmandu): The new Afghan leadership’s attempts to engage with Asia

S Reza Kazemi •

Compelled by widening economic and other challenges, the new Afghan government seems determined to diversify Afghanistan’s foreign relations by slowly forging stronger economic and political ties with countries in the region. For this purpose, it has at least two cards to play: the country’s geographic position as a corridor for regional trade and its natural […]

Regional Relations Read more

Taliban return to Afghan town that rose up and drove out its leaders

AAN •

The Guardian, 28 October 2014 In a detailed report about the comeback of the Taleban and the end of the anti-Taleban uprising, “Martine van Bijlert, an Uruzgan expert with the Afghanistan Analysts Network” is quoted: In Gizab, however, residents waited in vain after the revolt for the government to exert control…  “Instead, they just felt like […]

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British troops “struggled to maintain clarity of purpose” in Afghanistan

AAN •

Voice of Russia, 28 October 2014 Also, the website of Russia’s state radio picks up an AFP report quoting an earlier AAN dispatch about the situation in Sangin district.  

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Insecurity and opium blight Afghan province as British troops leave

AAN •

The News/AFP, 28 October 2014 The Pakistani newspaper picks up a report apparently from AFP about the closure of the UK’s Camp Bastion, on of the largest NATO/ISAF bases in the country, in Helmand province. In it, it quotes from an AAN dispatch discussing the situation in one of Helmand’s districts, Sangin: “A report by […]

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Streets of Khanabad. Photo: Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands, under creative commons license

Security in Kunduz Worsening Further: The case of Khanabad

Christian Bleuer • Obaid Ali •

Kunduz has had the worst security environment of any province in the north for the past few years. And within this province there are several districts that are particularly notable for the intractable conflicts raging within them. One notable area in this regard is Khanabad district, where government forces, nominally pro-government militias, illegal armed groups […]

War and Peace Read more

Islamic State and Foreign Fighters: Jihadists from Central Asia

AAN •

Eurasia Review, 27 October 2014 In a short analysis of the trend of Central Asian jihadists enrolling with the IS to fight in Syria and Iraq ,  the author quotes from Christian Bleuer’s recent AAN dispatch about the same issue.  

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