Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: April 2015

‘The Land Is Hard, The Sky Is Far’: Afghan Turkmen In Dire Straits

AAN •

RFE/RL, 26 April 2015 Report about Afghan Turkmens who have ended up in the crossfire between Afghan government troops and the Taleban in Badghis province – and who have not been allowed so far to cross into Turkmenistan, the only open way to escape.

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Hazaras in the Crosshairs? A scrutiny of recent incidents

Qayoom Suroush •

Eight abductions of groups of people have been reported since late February by officials, activists or media as having targeted ethnic Hazaras. The first was also the biggest: the abduction of 31 bus passengers in Zabul on 23 February 2015. Other crimes ‘against Hazaras’ have been reported from Ghazni, Farah, Daikundi and Balkh. AAN’s Qayoom […]

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First wave of IS attacks? Claim and denial over the Jalalabad bombs

Borhan Osman • Kate Clark •

The suicide attack on the Kabul Bank in Jalalabad on 18 April 2015, which killed more than 30 people and injured at least 100 others, was condemned by the Taleban and claimed by the Islamic State (IS), or at least by a Facebook site purporting to represent IS, also known as Daesh. President Ashraf Ghani also […]

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Afghan, NATO officials doubt IS links to Jalalabad bombing

AAN •

Reuters, 22 April 2015 Cautioning voices are on the rise on the alleged involvement of the IS in the recent Jalalabad terrorist attack. ,”Afghan officials and NATO forces in Afghanistan said they doubted that a recent suicide attack on the eastern city of Jalalabad was the work of an offshoot Islamic State, the Islamist militant […]

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Endlich kann in Kabul regiert werden

Thomas Ruttig •

Tageszeitung, 20 April 2015 Guest article by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig in the Berlin daily covering the parliament’s positive vote on 16 of the 17 remaining cabinet members and the IS claim for the Jalalabad terror attack. Finally, governing Afghanistan can start now, almost seven months after the Ghani/Abdullah government coming to power.

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Urheber gegen Bekenner: Kommentar zum [möglichen] IS-Anschlag in Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

Tageszeitung, 20 April 2015 Op-ed commentary in the Berlin daily by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, discussing the likelihood that the IS claim for responsibility for Saturday’s terror attack in Jalalabad is accurate. He writes that, over the past 13 years, militant groups in various instances have claimed attacks they did not commit or denied responsibility despite […]

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Schwerer Anschlag in Afghanistan Präsident Ghani warnt vor IS

AAN •

Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 19 April 2015 The most influential Swiss daily writes about the IS claim for the 18 April terror attack in Jalalabad and says that “people knowledgable about the scene say that IS so far has not much recruited in the region”, linking to an AAN dispatch.

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U.N. investigation finds corruption in Afghan police oversight division

AAN •

Reuters, 19 April 2015 “A United Nations sponsored report has found that Afghanistan government officials who headed oversight of the police [Hakim Nejrabi] suppressed complaints of corruption against the force and has recommended their dismissal, according to a copy of the document seen by Reuters. The United Nations Development Programme is also investigating why its […]

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Afghanistan braces for violence as Islamic State makes presence felt

AAN •

The Guardian, 19 April 2015 On the Jalalabad terror attack claimed by IS, AAN’s Borhan Osman is quoted with the following comment: Borhan Osman, an analyst with Afghanistan Analysts Network who has tracked the emergence of Isis in Afghanistan, said the group might benefit from frictions within the Taliban. “[Isis] has not built a solid, actual […]

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U.N. says Afghanistan’s court system fails women

AAN •

Los Angeles Times, 19 April 2015 A new UN report, “Justice through the eyes of Afghan Women”, says Afghanistan’s court system is failing to provide adequate access to women who are victims of violence. “Along with fears of corruption, including paying bribes to move the process along, women in Afghanistan, as in many other countries, felt they […]

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Erstes großes IS-Attentat in Afghanistan?

AAN •

ARD, 18 April 2015 AAN’s Kate Clark on German Tagesschau prime time news raises some doubts whether the IS is really responsible for today’s bloody suicide attack in Jalalabad, saying that it might just have grabbed the opportunity to claim responsibility, as it needs international attention (with video).

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Picture shows candidate ministers sitting in Parliament.

Afghanistan (almost) has a cabinet: MPs confirm all candidate ministers

Kate Clark •

Members of parliament have endorsed all sixteen candidates put forward by Afghanistan’s national unity government. This means that, six months into its term, the country has an almost complete cabinet – only the defence minister is still missing. This is the MPs’ second such vote. The first, on 28 January 2015, saw only a third […]

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