Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: September 2016

The Brussels conference will be the eleventh donor conference since the 2001 US-led intervention in Afghanistan.

Thematic Dossier XII: Background Reading for the 2016 Brussels Conference

AAN Team •

On 5 October 2016, the Government of Afghanistan and the European Union will co-host the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan. At the conference, governments and international organisations will scrutinise both the Afghan reform efforts and the efficiency and sustainability of international support to Afghanistan. There are several controversial topics set to be discussed at the conference […]

Dossiers Read more
The Brussels conference will be the eleventh donor conference since the 2001 US-led intervention in Afghanistan.

The Brussels Conference on Afghanistan: Between aid and migration

AAN Team •

The Afghan Government and the EU will co-host the Brussels conference on 5 October 2016. A couple of side events will take place on 4 October, and a high-level dialogue on migration is scheduled for 3 October. Around 70 countries and 30 international organisations will come together in the Belgian capital to review the achievements […]

International Engagement Read more
President Ashraf Ghani, flanked by senior Afghan officials and politicians, signs the peace agreement with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the Hizb-e-Islami party, who earlier spoke to the gathering (and signed the agreement) by video link. Photo: Tolo News

Peace With Hekmatyar: What does it mean for battlefield and politics?

Borhan Osman •

The peace deal signed today by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hezb-e Islami, and President Ashraf Ghani, has been hailed by the Afghan government as the first major peace achievement of the last fifteen years. However, expectations should be tempered. Given Hezb-e Islami’s almost total absence on the battlefield, the deal is unlikely to significantly lower […]

War and Peace Read more

Kundus hängt am seidenen Faden

Martine van Bijlert •

Tageschau, 28 September 2016 “Unabhängige Organisationen wie die International Crisis Group oder das Afghanistan Analysts Network sowie Sicherheitsexperten für internationale Organisationen, die zuletzt in Kundus waren, bestätigen Shukria Ahmadis Schilderungen. Die deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), der entwicklungspolitische Arm der Bundesregierung, schickt derzeit keine Mitarbeiter nach Kundus und versucht, die Projekte von Kabul oder […]

AAN in the Media Read more

From the Taliban Frying Pan to the Islamic State Fire

Martine van Bijlert •

Foreign Policy, 27 September 2016 Heather Barr quotes AAN’s Borhan Osman in her article on IS in Afghanistan: “The Taliban consistently articulates goals that solely pertain to its quest to regain control of Afghanistan. … This is in sharp contrast to the global ambitions of the Islamic State, which announced the establishment of its own, global caliphate […]

AAN in the Media Read more
Screenshot from a video of a ISKP training in Nangarhar published in 2015

Descent into chaos: Why did Nangarhar turn into an IS hub?

Borhan Osman •

Armed groups pledging allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) have tried to establish a foothold in five of Afghanistan’s provinces, but only in Nangarhar have they succeeded. There, IS Khorasan Province (ISKP), the Afghanistan-Pakistan franchise of the Islamic State, landed on fertile ground with a fragmented insurgency, bickering provincial elites, a tradition of Salafi networks […]

War and Peace Read more

Afghanistanekspert: Må skape fred og jobber translate [Peace and jobs must be brought]

Thomas Ruttig •

Klassekampen, 23 September 2016 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig quoted extensively in this two-pager in the Norwegian left-wing daily on the triple crisis in Afghanistan: socio-economic, security and governmental, based on an interview during the Afghanistan week organised by Norwegian Afghanistan Committee (NAC). Not online yet, but here a screenshot from Twitter.

AAN in the Media Read more

Afghanistan inngår fredsavtale med «Slakteren i Kabul»

Thomas Ruttig •

NRK, 22 September 2016 The website of Norwegian public broadcaster has collected a number of reactions to the peace deal between the Afghan government and Hezb-e Islami. One is from AAN’s Thomas Ruttig: En av verdens fremste Afghanistan-kjennere, Thomas Ruttig i Afghanistan Analysts Network, betegner Hekmatyar som farlig. – Han er veldig farlig, veldig mange […]

AAN in the Media Read more

Politiskt käbbel hotar Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

TT/Göteborgs-Posten, 21 September 2016 The Swedish news agency quotes AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about the NUG’s performance: I de flesta afghaners ögon har NUG presterat dåligt. Den är i stor utsträckning blockerad av interna stridigheter om maktdelningen, vilket tar tid och kraft från viktigare saker som socioekonomiska frågor och ett slut på kriget, säger Thomas Ruttig […]

AAN in the Media Read more
The late Haji Gul Agha, ALP police chief for Shajoy district, Zabul. Photo: Pajhwok.

How to replace a bad ALP commander: in Shajoy, success and now calamity

Fazl Rahman Muzhary •

The Afghan Local Police (ALP) commander in Shajoy district, Zabul province, Haji Gul Agha, has been killed in a Taleban ambush, along with four of his men. AAN’s Fazal Muzhary had been researching Gul Agha’s record as his was an interesting example of locals managing, with great difficulty, to get rid of an abusive ALP […]

War and Peace Read more

EASO publishes a Country of Origin Information (COI) report on recruitment by armed groups in Afghanistan

AAN •

EU News, 19 September 2016 AAN is quoted several times in a recent report of the European Asylum Support Office, titled “Afghanistan Recruitment by armed groups”, reports the EU-related news agency, for example here: A quality review was carried out by Kate Clark from the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), an independent non- profit policy research organisa […]

AAN in the Media Read more
Reburial of Habibullah II (Kalakani) on Shahr Ara Hill. Photo: Pajhwok.

Who Was King Habibullah II? A query from the literature

Thomas Ruttig •

The recent reburial of King Habibullah II – aka Habibullah Kalakani aka derogatively Bacha-ye Saqao (The Water Carrier’s Son) – that stirred up controversy and violence was another reflection of Afghanistan’s increasingly ethnicised politics. Competing narratives about historical events and the legacy of historical figures reflect deeper, underlying societal and political cleavages, both between ethnic […]

Context and Culture Read more

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