Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: December 2014

Rambo Was Too Late: Afghanistan in Western films (part I), from 1909 to 2001

Christian Bleuer •

Afghanistan has rarely featured in western films, especially when compared to other foreign locales – from countries in Africa to Latin America to East Asia. This cinematic neglect is matched by the lower prominence that Afghanistan was accorded in the popular imagination and in western foreign policy during this era. Despite the shortage of films about […]

Context and Culture Read more

Dem einen Pfründe, den anderen Armut/Gewalt und Hoffnung in Afghanistan: Kabul unter dem neuen Präsidenten Aschraf Ghani

Thomas Ruttig •

Neues Deutschland, 22 December 2014 The Berlin-based daily reprints shortened versions of my (German language) November 2014 impressions from Kabul, from my website Afghanistan Zhaghdablai, here and here (subscribers only).

AAN in the Media Read more
Kabul Bank: glitzy facade, foul credits. Photo: ToloNews

AAN Podcasts: Martine van Bijlert talks Kabul Bank

Thomas Ruttig •

Regular visitors to the AAN website will have noticed that we have added an additional channel to our publications: podcasts. Although we already posted some podcasts earlier on (visit the archive here), you will be able to literally hear from us more regularly, from now on. We start our new podcast series with a comment […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

After Pivotal 2014, Afghanistan Faces New Challenges With Less Help

AAN •

Voice of America, 22 December 2014 On its website, the US government radio, in its preview on Afghanistan’s 2015 challenges, extensively quotes AAN’s Kate Clark on the working relationship in the government of national unity and the general situation: “We have got the [political] transition, we have got the two men in place. They strive […]

AAN in the Media Read more

Fears build as CIA’s ‘ghost prisoners’ vanish into Afghan jails

AAN •

The Observer, 20 December 2014 The Guardian’s former Afghanistan correspondent Emma Graham-Harrison – now the daily’s diplomatic correspondent – is back with a piece about Afghanistan: about the fact that, with the closure of the US-run prison in Bagram, former CIA ‘ghost prisosers’ “whose treatment set the torture template in the agency’s notorious Salt Pit … […]

AAN in the Media Read more

Thematic Dossier VII: Detentions in Afghanistan – Bagram, Transfer and Torture

Kate Clark •

One of the most controversial aspects of the 2001 intervention has ended: the United States’ detention on Afghan soil of men accused of involvement in the insurgency. At its peak, the US military detention facility on Bagram airbase held more than 3000 detainees. In the early years, there had also been a number of CIA […]

Dossiers Read more

Afghanistan – Ende einer Mission

Thomas Ruttig •

RBB-Inforadio, 20 December 2014 Listen to a 38-minutes interview (in German) with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, drawing a balance of the now ending ISAF mission – covering security, development, terrorism and the insurgency. Also available as a podcast, here.

AAN in the Media Read more

Ruttig: “Konzession an Pakistans Militär”

Thomas Ruttig •

Deutsche Welle, 18 December 2014 Interview (in German) with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, discussing the condemnation by the Afghan Taleban of the Peshawar school massacre committed by their Pakistani namesakes. Thomas opines that it might be a “concession” to the Pakistani military from the support of which the Afghan Taleban still rely to a large extent.

AAN in the Media Read more

Afghanistan’s New Millionaires

AAN •

Business Week, 18 December 2014 “The Americans started Matie [from Nawa district] on his road to prosperity”, writes Mujib Mashal, one of Afghanistan’s most outstanding journalists. Matie was part of a pattern. “As hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer money poured into the country, it created a new class of wealthy, entrepreneurial Afghans. […]

Recommended Reads Read more

Menschen als Schutzschild: In Gizab sind die Taliban auf dem Sprung zur Macht

AAN •

Freitag, 17 December 2014 The German weekly that cooperates with the Guardian reprints (in German) a reportage form the British daily from Gizab in Uruzgan. Author Sune Engel Rasmussen quotes “AAN’s Uruzgan expert Martine van Bijlert” about the local anti-Taleban ‘uprising’: Doch die Bewohner Gizabs warteten nach ihrer Revolte vergeblich darauf, dass die Regierung die […]

AAN in the Media Read more

[Pakistanische] Taliban rächen sich an Regierung

Thomas Ruttig •

Radio Bremen, 17 December 2014 Listen to an audio (in German, 4:06 min) with an interview given by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about the context of the Pakistani Taleban attack against a school in Peshawar.

AAN in the Media Read more

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