Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: October 2016

IS-Kämpfer töten zehn Zivilisten

Martine van Bijlert •

n-tv (online), 24 October 2016 This short article on the recent killing of civilians by a self-proclaimed IS cell in Ghor, quotes AAN’s recent dispatch on the recent ISKP bomb attack in Kabul: Aus einer Analyse des Rechercheinstituts Afghanistan Analysts Network von vergangener Woche geht hervor, dass der IS nun auch in der Hauptstadt Kabul […]

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Afghanistan: Opiumproduktion wächst wegen Taliban-Erfolgen

AAN •

dpa/Spiegel and others, 23 October 2016 In this article reporting the increasing opium production in Afghanistan, AAN’s Jelena Bjelica is quoted as saying: Es gebe einen “gut dokumentierten Zusammenhang zwischen Unsicherheit und Mohnanbau”, sagt Jelena Bjelica vom Rechercheinstitut Afghanistan Analysts Network. “Mohn hat wenige Risiken in einer Hochrisiko-Umgebung. Es ist eine natürliche Wahl für Bauern im […]

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Kabul’s Kart-e Sakhi shrine where two attackers wearing police uniforms and equipped with grenades and machine guns opened fire on Ashura mourners on 11 October 2016. Photo: Tolo

With an Active Cell in Kabul, ISKP Tries to Bring Sectarianism to the Afghan War

Borhan Osman •

With its publically claimed attack on Afghan Shia mourners in Kabul on the eve of Ashura, the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) was clearly attempting to add a toxic sectarianism to the Afghan conflict. The attack, which killed 19 people, followed two other ISKP attacks, on a political demonstration by (largely Shia) Hazaras in July […]

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Offensiven, Bomben, Attentate: Taliban wieder auf dem Vormarsch

Martine van Bijlert •

dpa/Tiroler Tageszeitung, N24 and TRT German, 18 October 2016 This article (based on a dpa news agency text) on the recent increase in Taleban attacks quotes AAN reporting from March 2016 on the Taleban’s “Red Units”: Andererseits, sagen Sicherheitsexperten, haben die Taliban die Zeit seit dem Abzug der internationalen Truppen genutzt, um sich zu professionalisieren. […]

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What America’s new war looks like in Afghanistan’s most violent province

AAN •

Washington Post, 16 October 2016 550-strong US Task Force Forge is back in Camp Shorab in Helmand, with its motto: “Holding the Helmand Line,” supported by Task Force Lethal — an American unit made up of an infantry battalion, medical-evacuation helicopters and gunships, stationed at Camp Dwyer. It had started in February 2015 “as seven advisers and four […]

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BBC- Battle Lines

admin •

BBC, 14 October 2016 It is twenty years since the Taleban captured Kabul. AAN’s Kate Clark arrived in the city three years later in 1999 as the BBC correspondent. This week she was asked to reflect on the changes between then and now for the BBC radio programme, For Our Own Correspondent. Kate remembers a city […]

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Afghanistans Armee im Vielfrontenkrieg

Martine van Bijlert •

Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 13 October 2016 Article in German on Afghanistan’s current “multi-front war” quotes AAN’s recent dispatch by Obaid Ali on the Taleban’s latest assault on Kunduz city (Deja vu, but why?): Laut Obaid Ali, der für die Denkfabrik Afghanistan Analysts Network den jüngsten Vorstoss auf Kunduz analysiert hat, ist nicht strategisches Versagen der Regierungskräfte, sondern […]

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The Taleban Assault on Kunduz city: Déjà vu, but why?

Obaid Ali •

A little over a year after the temporary fall of Kunduz city to the Taleban, the city has become a battleground again. On 3 October 2016, the Taleban entered during a massive assault from three directions. Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), supported by US forces and air power, are battling to recapture the areas they […]

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Refugees: It Really Wasn’t Merkel

Thomas Ruttig •

Zeit online, 11 October 2016 In this article putting the ‘Merkel factor’ of the 2015 migration movements into Europe into context, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in the part “If it wasn’t Merkel, then who was it?”, referring to the “security situation in Afghanistan worsened significantly.” Thomas Ruttig of the Afghanistan Analysts Network estimates that between […]

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Refugees: It Really Wasn’t Merkel

AAN •

Zeit online, 11 October 2016 Putting the overrated ‘Merkel factor’ in the 2015 migration movements into context – of data and of long-term causes for people fleeing their countries. Article also available in German.

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The Aftermath of Two Attacks

Martine van Bijlert •

Inside Higher Ed (website), 10 October 2016 Report on the aftermath of the recent attack on the American University of Afghanistan and the abduction of two of its professors, quotes a recent dispatch by AAN’s Borhan Osman. The dispatch discussed the Taleban’s inner dynamics with regard to the attack and the fact that it wasn’t claimed. […]

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Why Kunduz Fell

Martine van Bijlert •

Long War Journal, 10 October 2016 This Long War Journal report on “Why Kunduz Fell” argues that the situation in Kunduz leading up to the fall of the provincial capital in 2015, in many ways mirrors the present state of the country as a whole. The article lists four AAN dispatches – one by Obaid Ali, […]

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