Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: June 2015

Afghanistan’s Marginalized Minority Fights Stateless Status

AAN •

RFE/RL, 30 June 2015 Interesting article about an unknown Afghan minority: the Mosulis, a nomadic people of Iraqi origin who migrated to Iran and Afghanistan during the time of the Abbasid caliphate (750–1258 AD). Mosuli people mainly live in the southeast – Khost,  Paktia and Paktika, pockets also in the capital Kabul, Kandahar and Balkh as well as across […]

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Afghan president appoints a second female governor


AAN •

New York Times, 29 June 2015 After the appointment of Sima Joyenda, Afghanistan’s third-ever  female provincial governor (after Habiba Sarobi in Bamian under Karzai and Ghani appointment Masuma Muradi for Daikundi), the debate starts: Can a woman run such a conservative province? Will the (male) commanders listen to her in security meetings? etc

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Years after invasion, the U.S. leaves a cultural imprint on Afghanistan

AAN •

Washington Post, 28 June 2015 This is about illegal poker rounds, gangsta rap, US flags on basecaps, Heinz barbecue sauce, graffiti art and the “new freedoms.”  First question: Is this all really American? Second question: What about Bagram black jail, torture and kill-or-capture? Did this also affect Afghan culture?

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„Sicherheit darf sich nicht auflösen“

Thomas Ruttig •

Frankfurter Rundschau, 26 June 2015 Extensive interview (in German) with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, covering a broad array of issues, including the Taleban attack on the Afghan parliament, Taleban-IS relations, the security in general, the strength of the Afghan forces and the situation of aid organisations.

AAN in the Media Read more
Murad and Sayyed in their neon-lit basement prison in Aleppo, Syria. They are being held by Syrian rebels who want to exchange them, but find no one interested in their prisoners. Photo: screenshot from a video taken by Christoph Reuter

Murad’s War: An Afghan face to the Syrian conflict

Christopher Reuter •

In Syria, the Assad regime is running out of soldiers and is increasingly relying on mercenaries. Many are Shiites – Lebanese Hezbollah militiamen, Iranians, Iraqis, Pakistanis and Yemenis. But no group is represented to the degree that the Afghan Hazara are. AAN guest author Christoph Reuter (*) has met two of them – recruited in […]

War and Peace Read more

رویارویی طالبان و داعش؟ (Conflict between the Taleban and Daesh?)

AAN •

BBC (Persian service), 25 June 2015 BBC’s Harun Najafizada, writes, based on an interview with AAN’s Borhan Osman: “The Taleban’s sending of letter to IS publicly was out of getting tired with the rise of fighters identifying with IS in the east, especially after the killing of the Taleban’s shadow governor for Nangarhar, which has been […]

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Taliban-Terror: So dramatisch ist die Lage in Afghanistan

AAN •

Bild, 24 June 2015 The biggest German tabloid very briefly quotes from an AAN diapatch in a short news item about the situation two years after the Bundeswehr withdrawal from Kunduz: “Die Islamisten kontrollieren bereits 65 Prozent der Gebiete, heißt es in einer Analyse des Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN). Und: ‘Kundus ist Frontlinie.’“  

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AAN Paper: Afghanistan’s new generation of Islamic activists

AAN Team •

Since the fall of the Taleban, Afghanistan has gone through a great deal of changes. The efforts to establish a democratic and pluralistic political system, the hugely improved access to the rest of the world through media and telecommunication, the emergence of a middle class as a result of a growing economy and the influx […]

Political Landscape Read more

Beyond Jihad and Traditionalism: Afghanistan’s new generation of Islamic activists

Borhan Osman •

Not all Afghan youth who are politically active and who want to change the status quo fit into the often simplified categories of being either progressive and educated, or uneducated and subversive. There is an often-overlooked segment of Afghanistan’s youth that is educated and engages in modern political debates and activities, while at the same […]

Special Reports Read more

Afghan forces repel daring Taliban attack on Kabul parliament

AAN •

Christian Science Monitor, 22 June 2015 The Monitor quotes itself quoting an AAN report, about the success or lack of of kill-or-capture operations:   The Christian Science Monitor wrote last year: Throughout the Afghan war, the US conducted capture-kill operations, missions designed to target key militant leaders. Such operations were most commonly used under US […]

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Afghanistan, talebani attaccano il parlamento

AAN •

Lettera43, 22 June 2015 The Italian online daily quotes AAN author Fabrizio Foschini in a report about the Taleban attack on parliament in Kabul, saying this constituted part of a campaign to defend “hegemony” in the Afghan jihad: “È la prosecuzione della scia di sangue del gruppo terroristico e della ‘offensiva di primavera’, la campagna […]

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چو دزدی با چراغ آید گزیده‌تر برد کالا

AAN •

Hasht-e Sobh, 20 June 2015 The Kabul-based daily writes about corruption in the Ministry of Education and mostly talked about the SIGAR report about former minister Faruq Wardak’s involvement in it. In the middle of the article, it is said that AAN released a report on corruption in the education field when Wardak was still the […]

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