Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: October 2015

Troop levels leave Afghan political problems unchecked

Thomas Ruttig •

Stars and Stripes, 16 October 2015 Under a very good headline, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about the US decision to extend the troop withdrawal date again: Washington would be wise to commit more resources to finding a political deal, said Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghan Analysts Network. “I think the U.S. should concentrate on a […]

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Taliban defiant over delay to U.S. troop reduction in Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

Reuters, 16 October 2015 After the US decision to keep the current number of troops in Afghanistan beyond 2016, a quote in which AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is trying to answer what this can contribute to security in Afghanistan: Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, said Afghan troops needed more support, but he added: […]

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Time for a rethink – and time waits for none!

Thomas Ruttig •

Pakistan Today, 16 October 2015 In an op-ed for the Pakistani website, a participantof the Pakistan-Afghanistan Bilateral Dialogue from the Regional Peace Institute (RPI) in Herat earlier this month organised by the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) mentions “informed and credible inputs from three experts from the Carnegie, Atlantic Council and the Afghan[istan] Analysts Network”.    

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Kuduz after the fighting on September 28, 2015. Photo Credit: @ehsan_af (Twitter)

The 2015 Insurgency in the North (3): The fall and recapture of Kunduz

Obaid Ali •

It took 15 days of fierce fighting for Afghan government forces and their US allies to push the Taleban back out of Kunduz city. Clashes continue in the surrounding districts. The Taleban onslaught on 28 September should not have come as a surprise, given how much territory in the province the group was already controlling. […]

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Un empujón moral para los afganos y un mensaje a Pakistán

Thomas Ruttig •

El País, 16 October 2015 In an article about current Taleban military successes, a dispatch by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted here, saying that – apart from district   taken by the Taleban – around 150 others are vulnerable: “Al menos otras 150 son vulnerables a sus ataques”, aseguraba recientemente a este diario Thomas Ruttig, […]

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The rising costs of water: dire consequences for Afghans in battle with Iranians

AAN •

The Guardian, 15 October 2015 On the Afghan-Iran border, a village is caught up in a deadly, regional struggle for the most precious resource: “Residents of Kohsan district in Afghanistan’s Herat province say that when they try to collect precious potable water on the barren eastern bank, the Iranian guards open fire. While the provincial […]

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US tank enters ruined Afghan hospital putting ‘war crime’ evidence at risk

AAN •

The Guardian, 15 October 2015 MSF says ‘forced entry’ by military vehicle – later said to be carrying investigators into the US airstrike that killed 22 patients and staff – caused stress and fear.

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Afghanistan nach dem Taliban-Angriff auf Kundus: “Hier gibt es nichts mehr, was mich hält”

Thomas Ruttig •

Qantara, 12 October 2015 In this article by Emran Feroz on this blog, a project of Deutsche Welle, in which the author discusses reasons for Afghans to flee their country in the current situation,  AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted (In German) about the US air attack on the MSF clinic in Kunduz, saying that there […]

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The Fall of Kunduz to The Taliban Is a Sign of Things to Come

Thomas Ruttig •

Newsweek, 12 October 2015 Two short quotes – one of AAN’s Thomas Ruttig and one from an earlier AAN dispatch: The amount of territory the Taliban control in Afghanistan tends to ebb and flow as they launch frequent fresh offensives, but Thomas Ruttig, co-director and co-founder of the research organization the Afghanistan Analysts Network, notes […]

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There are no known pictures of Mohammed Kamin, now cleared for release from Guantanamo. Even the US military’s intelligence Assessment of him has only a blacked out face.

Kafka in Cuba 3: Afghan who wore the wrong type of watch to be released from Guantanamo

Kate Clark •

One of the eight Afghans still detained at Guantanamo Bay, Mohammad Kamin, has been cleared for release after a new review board assessed it was no longer necessary to detain him. Kamin, now in his late 30s and from Khost, has been incarcerated for 12 years, a third of his life. The United States believed […]

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Svetlana Alexievich, during the 2015 Ryszard Kapuściński prize ceremony, Warsaw. Photo: Charta97.org.

Literature Nobel Prize for Svetlana Alexievich, author of 1990 Afghanistan book Zinky Boys

Thomas Ruttig •

Svetlana Alexievich has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Among her many breath-taking and deeply unsettling books is one about Afghanistan. Published in 1990, Zinky Boys is based on interviews with former Soviet soldiers and their relatives in her Belorussian home country in the second half of the 1980s, then still a Soviet republic. […]

Context and Culture Read more

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