Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: June 2016

US Drones Hit Taliban More Than Terrorist Networks Despite End of Afghan War

Martine van Bijlert •

19 June 2016, Common Dreams (website) AAN’s Kate Clark is extensively quoted in this article on US drones by the Bureau for Investigative Journalism. Kate Clark of the Afghan Analyst Network, a highly respected think tank said the rise in the proportion of airstrikes against the insurgency was a pragmatic response to a deteriorating situation. […]

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U.S. will seek billions more to support Afghan military efforts

AAN •

Washington Post, 18 June 2016 A primer for the upcoming NATO summit which also has Afghanistan and the future NATO involvement there on its agenda, with some interesting facts and statements. The United States and its allies, it reports, “will try to raise $15 billion to fund Afghan security forces through 2020. About $10.5 billion […]

Recommended Reads Read more
Just 27 MPs voted for the amended presidential decree that would have allowed changes to the electoral commissions. 126 rejected it. Photo: Tolo News

Another hurdle for elections in 2016: MPs reject presidential decree on electoral commissions

Ali Yawar Adili • Kate Clark • Lenny Linke • Salima Ahmadi •

Had MPs approved the presidential legislative decree ‘reforming’ the electoral commissions, Afghanistan would now be significantly closer to holding parliamentary and district elections. (And the National Unity Government could have claimed to be pushing forward on electoral reform, something required by the agreement that established it.) However, after three days of ill-mannered discussion, MPs roundly […]

Political Landscape Read more
A view over Herat city from a hill in the Bagh-e Mellat (Nation's Garden) resort – Herat is Musa's hometown, where he saw no future for himself. (Photo Source: Said Reza Kazemi)

Raftan, Raftan: How young Afghans from Herat end up in the Syrian war

S Reza Kazemi •

Much has been reported about how Afghan men, mostly young Shias, are being incentivised or coerced by Iran into fighting on the side of the Assad regime in Syria. There has been little study, however, of how exactly they end up in Syria. Said Reza Kazemi (*) has been tracking a 22 year-old Shia Afghan […]

Regional Relations Read more

Pushing the Parliament to Accept a Decree: Another Election without Reform?

Ali Yawar Adili • Martine van Bijlert •

Afghanistan’s electoral reform process, that was supposed to be a precondition for the next ballot, has been excruciatingly slow and has culminated in a watered-down version of its original mandate. The delays mean that it has by now become practically impossible to hold elections this year. The presidential palace, however, continues to insist that both elections […]

Political Landscape Read more

Anfragebeantwortung zu Afghanistan: Provinz Laghman, Distrikt Alingar: Sicherheitslage, Aktivitäten der Taliban, Zwangsrekrutierungen [a-9671]

Martine van Bijlert •

10 June 2016, ecoi.net The European Country of Origin Information Network has posted a report by ACCORD (the Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation) on Laghman province that extensively quotes from AAN’s dispatch by Borhan Osman on the Taleban’s announced spring offensive.

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Taliban Get A New Leader, Who’s Just As Violent As The Old One

Thomas Ruttig •

NPR, 6 June 2016 In this article about the new Taleban leader on the website of US national public radio, AAN is quoted twice (with links to our website), on the Taleban’s (un-willingness) to negotiate with the Afghan government and on the (not yet finished) peace deal between the Afghan government and Hezb-e Islami: Part […]

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Salma Dam: Making Afghanistan Power-Ready – Analysis

Martine van Bijlert •

Eurasia review, 4 June 2016 Detailed article quotes AAN’s dispatch on Afghanistan’s electricity grid by guest author Mohsin Amin: According to Afghanistan Analyst Network (AAN), the national power grid operates in nine different ‘islands’/grids depending on power supply sources. This means that different regions are supplied by different sources, and due to technical limitations these regions […]

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The TUTAP kerosene lamp memorial in the centre of Bamyan. Photo: Jelena Bjelica.

Power to the People (3): Perspectives from Bamyan

Jelena Bjelica • Thomas Ruttig •

The TUTAP commission established by President Ghani following massive protests recently decided in favour of the Salang route for a north-south power line. The commission ruled further that Bamyan should get its own 220KV power line by 2019. This is a balanced solution in the midst of crisis, meant to temper ethnic tensions that arose […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

The Taliban′s spring offensive: Over one million displaced Afghans

AAN •

Qantara, 3 June 2016 AAN’s analysis is quoted in this article on the web portal that represents the concerted effort of the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (Federal Center for Political Education), Deutsche Welle, the Goethe Institut and the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations) to promote dialogue with the Islamic world: … spectacular suicide […]

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