Month: September 2016

Can Ghani and Modi stop the Taliban’s perpetual-motion war machine?

AAN •

Indian Express, 15 September 2016 The Indian daily finds Lola Cecchinel’s analysis for AAN about Kunduz “very thoughtful”: In large swathes of the country, this means government has all but vanished. In a thoughtful analysis written this month, Afghan Analysts Network researcher Lola Cecchinel wrote that the government’s influence in the Kunduz districts of Dasht-e […]

15 Sep 2016

Herat Shorts Festival: The effects of armed conflict on children, seen through a cinematic lens

Jelena Bjelica •

What do a 16-year high school student, a middle-aged aviation engineer, a 29-year old tenth-grader in night school and a 45-year old doctor in the Afghanistan National Border Police have in common? Not just that all of them come from the western region (Badghis or Herat), but all of them were also competitors in the first-ever […]

14 Sep 2016

AAN Wishes Peaceful and Happy Eid al-Adha Days

AAN Team •

دافغانستان د تحلیلګرانو شبکه د نیکمرغه لوي اختر د رارسیدو له امله ټولي اسلامي نړۍ، په ځانګري توګه د افغانستان مسلمان ولس ته دزړه له کومي مبارکی وایي. هیله ده چي دلوي اختر له برکته په افغانستان کې سوله، ثبات او ورورولي ټینګه شي. زمو‌‌‌ږ ورستۍ مقاله د لوی اختر د نمانځنې په باره کې […]

12 Sep 2016

Afghan Exodus: Smuggling networks, migration and settlement patterns in Turkey

Noah Arjomand •

Turkey is both a means and an end for Afghan migrants. Many thousands of Afghans seeking better lives have come to Istanbul, the bridge between east and west, on their way to the European Union. Many thousands have stayed on and built an expatriate community that both aids and exploits those passing through. In this […]

10 Sep 2016

Schlacht­feld der Regio­nal­mächte: Warum die Lage in Afghanistan so aussichtslos ist

Spiegel, 9 September 2016 The German weekly magazine quotes AAN’s Thomas Ruttig with a bold quote: „Auch wenn Je­sus und der Da­lai-Lama als Re­gie­rungs­chefs ge­wählt wür­den – auch sie wür­den wohl schei­tern“, sagt Tho­mas Rut­tig, der Ex­di­plo­mat und heu­ti­ge Ko­di­rek­tor des Af­gha­nis­tan Ana­lysts Net­work. 

9 Sep 2016

Peace but extreme poverty in isolated region of Afghanistan

AAN •

AP, 7 September 2016 A reportage from Wakhan in Afghanistan’s extreme northeast – an area characterised by deep poverty and now increasingly isolated: Just 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Ishkashim, the town at the entrance to the valley, the Taliban and other criminal groups control the world’s oldest lapis lazuli mines, in Warduj district. (…) The presence […]

7 Sep 2016

Afghanistan’s National Unity Government Rift (2): The problems that will not go away

Martine van Bijlert •

The recent public argument between Chief Executive Abdullah and President Ghani is more than an argument over appointments, management styles or how far government reforms should go. The core of the rift lies in the different views both sides have on why the National Unity Government (NUG) came into being and what this means for […]

6 Sep 2016

Afghanistan’s National Unity Government Rift (1): Crisis averted (for now), back to appointing commissions

Ali Yawar Adili • Lenny Linke • Martine van Bijlert •

Just weeks before the upcoming donor conference in Brussels on 5 October 2016, the two leaders of Afghanistan’s National Unity Government (NUG) erupted into a fierce, public argument. Chief Executive Abdullah accused President Ghani of unilateralism and called him “unfit” for his office; the president hit back implying that the rival camp was merely trying […]

6 Sep 2016

The Attack on the American University in Kabul (2): Who did it and why?

Borhan Osman •

The attack on the American University in Kabul on 24 August 2016 was unprecedented in many respects. For the first time, a ‘complex attack’ – often reserved for high-profile and well-guarded targets – hit an educational institution. It also came in the wake of an ideological campaign by circles in the Taleban movement that had […]

5 Sep 2016

Third bomb strikes Kabul, Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

CNN, 5 September 2016 This article about Monday’s two Taleban-clamied attacks in Kabul has a short quote from AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about the Taleban new leader Hibatullah Akhundzada: Experts describe Akhundzada as a religious scholar and a member of the Taliban’s founding generation. He was close to founding Taliban leader Mullah Omar, said Thomas Ruttig of […]

5 Sep 2016

The Attack on the American University in Kabul (1): What happened and who the victims were

AAN Team •

By the time the attack on the American University in Afghanistan (AUAF) in Kabul on 24 August 2016 ended, 13 people had been killed and 49 wounded, most of them students. Families looking forward to bright futures for their children have been left to bury them or are now waiting anxiously at hospital bedsides. No group […]

4 Sep 2016

Crisis Looms As Clock Winds Down On Afghan ‘Unity Government’ Deal

Thomas Ruttig •

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 4 September 2016 In this article looking at the balance and prospects of the Afghan national unity government (NUG), author Frud Bezhan quotes AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, among others: “The political system we will see for a while is the current one, bogged down in an adjourned game with no easy and constitutional […]

4 Sep 2016