Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: April 2016

Unter der Brücke: Drogenelend am Platzspitz von Kabul

AAN •

Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 16 April 2016 In his reportage about drug users from Kabul, the NZZ correspondent quotes AAN’s Jelena Bjelica about the supply side and the influence of Afghan returnees from Iran who became addicted there: «Die grosse Verfügbarkeit der Ware ist einer der Hauptgründe für die hohe Zahl Abhängiger», erklärt Jelena Bijelica vom […]

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Screenshot of the Taleban's spring offensive announcement 2016 on their English language website

Operation Omari: Taleban Announced 2016 Spring Offensive

AAN Team • Borhan Osman •

The Taleban made their yearly spring offensive announcement on 12 April 2016. The statement attributed to Taleban leadership council (Rahbari Shura) named the offensive “Operation Omari,” in honour of the movement’s late leader and provides clues with regard to both the Taleban’s plans and the way they wish to present themselves. Of particular note are the […]

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Eskalation in Afghanistan: Die Taliban schlagen wieder los

Thomas Ruttig •

Tageszeitung, 13 April 2016 Thomas Ruttig’s op-ed (in German) about the Taleban’s announcement of this year#s spring offensive and its possible impact on peace talks in the Berlin-based daily.

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Why Don’t the Candidates Talk About Afghanistan?

AAN •

Huffington Post, 12 April 2016 An almost forgotten issue: The Post looks at what Clinton and Trump say about Afghanistan during the continuing primaries.

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Taliban making a comeback in Afghanistan [Helmand]

Thomas Ruttig •

ORF (Austrian radio), 11 Apil 2016 Interview (in English) with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about the situation in Helmand after the US sent new troops to the embattled province (available for another six days).

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One of those killed while out electioneering in Takhar province in 2010: Atiqullah Rahman, a school student, was the brother of Habib Rahman who made a request for a judicial review to look into the UK’s alleged role in targeted killings in Afghanistan (permission given to AAN by the family to reproduce the image).

Were British Police Involved in Targeted Killings? New report presents fresh evidence

Kate Clark •

The allegation that a British civilian policing body, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), helped draw up lists of Afghans for targeted killings in ISAF’s ‘kill or capture’ strategy in Afghanistan has re-surfaced. Two years ago, SOCA denied to a London court that it had supplied such intelligence for targeted killings in a case brought […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Afghanistan’s internal refugee crisis

AAN •

al-Jazeera, 11 April 2016 “Save money [to pay a smuggler]? What money? There’s no money to save. … Our only option is to go across the border into Pakistan only to be caught and brought back to the border.” For the poorest of the poor – Afghan IDPs –, prohibitive costs bar the way for them to […]

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Soldiers collect the bodies of killed colleagues after the Taleban attack on the Dahan Ab-e Khostak base in Jurm, Badakhshan. The process took up to ten days because of the lack of available helicopters to transport them out of the district. (Photo Credit: Local authorities, April 2015)

Violence in Badakhshan Persists: what last year’s Jurm attack still tells us about insecurity in the north

Bethany Matta •

On the one year anniversary of a major attack in Jurm in April 2015, and not long before the Taleban are expected to announce their new spring offensive, Badakhshis are nervously anticipating the year ahead. AAN guest author Bethany Matta revisits the attack, detailing how it happened and showing how the attack and its aftermath […]

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MPs Approve Interior Minister And Attorney General

Thomas Ruttig •

ToloNews, 9 April 2016 In its reporting about the approval by parliament of the new interior minister and attorney general, the news agency used  “additional information from www.afghanistan-analysts.org.”

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Abschiebungen: “Deutschland hat eine politische Verantwortung”

Thomas Ruttig •

Weser-Kurier, 9 April 2016 Full interview with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig (in German) about the issue of “secure zones” in Afghanistan (to which deportations would be possible) and the situation in Afghanistan in the Bremen-based daily.

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Afghan parliament will vote on 9 April about a new interior minister, among others, after the previous one, Nur-ul-Haq Ulumi (here on a 2005 election poster in Kandahar) stepped down. Photo: Thomas Ruttig.

Filling NUG Vacancies: Parliament to vote on Interior Minister and Attorney General

Ehsan Qaane • Salima Ahmadi • Thomas Ruttig •

With two international conferences that will decide about future support levels for Afghanistan at the horizon, and a surprisingly high number of key positions still held by caretakers or politically vulnerable individuals, the NUG has moved to fill two posts that are central to the government’s key undertakings: Interior Minister, which plays an important role […]

Political Landscape Read more

Another mysterious death in Kandahar, and allegations of official torture

AAN •

Los Angeles Times, 7 April 2016 After another disappeared young Afghan was found dead with torture wounds in Kandahar, an occasional journalist and web author, described by some government sources as a Taleban member or sympathiser, criticism has come up again against the Kandahar police chief’s conduct of the fight against the Taleban. In this […]

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