Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: March 2017

ID Systems Fail Because Their Designers Have a Blind Spot: the User

Martine van Bijlert •

Medium.com, 30 March 2017 Article that is part of the Omidyar Network “Identities Project” refers to AAN’s 2016 dispatch on the troubled history of the e-tazkera as “well-worth your time”: Technology development is a constant tussle between the intentions and assumptions of designers and inventors, and the social contexts of the people who actually use […]

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National Cricket Stadium, Kabul. Photo: US Embassy Kabul (2010). Licensed under CC BY 2.0

The Great Game: The rise of Afghan cricket from exodus and war

Kate Clark • Sudhansu Verma •

Afghanistan continues to make inroads into the world of cricket. The men’s team has progressed from being a disorganised band of reckless hitters of the ball in the early 2000s to a well-balanced team. Two Afghans recently got contracts to play in the biggest cricket league in the world, the Indian Premier League, with deals […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

WHY ISIS IS FAILING TO BUILD A CALIPHATE IN AFGHANISTAN

Martine van Bijlert •

Newsweek, 25 March 2017 Newsweek article on ISIS failure to gain a solid foothold in Afghanistan quotes AAN twice: [ISIS] has failed to make any significant headway in Afghanistan, a country that the Afghanistan Analysts’ Network describes as having “historical cache as the home of the first successful jihad of modern times.” Split into 398 […]

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Schule – was ist das?

Martine van Bijlert •

Tageschau, 25 March 2017 Brief article on the state of schools in Afghanistan, quotes AAN on the situation in Kunduz, where funds for the construction and school supplies often end up in the hands of local warlords: “Die deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, kurz GIZ, schickt zum Beispiel keine Mitarbeiter mehr nach Kundus in Nordafghanistan […]

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Confusion over what tax individuals, businesses and non-profits should be paying has, at times, overwhelmed Afghanistan’s tax offices and tax payers. (Photo: Tolo)

How much do I need to pay? Changes to Afghanistan’s Tax Law cause chaos and confusion

Chantal Grut •

What are the tax obligations of citizens, residents and investors in Afghanistan? This question is much harder to answer today than it was 18 months ago. Then, the 2009 Income Tax Law, a remarkably well-written and detailed piece of legislation, had gone a long way in establishing a path towards clarity, stability and integrity for […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

Violence, corruption threaten Afghan progress in getting kids to school

AAN •

Reuters, 23 March 2017 In this report, following a Save The Children report on education shortcomings in Afghanistan, the authors also quote AAN’s Ali Yawar Adili who also has recently written about exaggerated schooling figures, ghost schools and other phenomena marring the country’s education system: Ali Yawar Adili at the Afghanistan Analysts Network said there was […]

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Afghan kids celebrating Nawruz in Kabul. Photo: Christine Roehrs

Happy Nawruz! Wishing peace and happiness to AAN readers in 1396

AAN Team •

After a long, cold, hard winter, Nawruz is finally here. Spring itself seems a little late this year. By 1 Hamal 1395, the trees were already in full bloom in Kabul. Not this year. Still, we are sure that balmier days will soon be here and, as the gardens awaken, the fragrance of flowers will fill the air. Here at AAN, […]

Context and Culture Read more

Donald Trump has three choices in Afghanistan: stalemate, failure, or sending in more troops

AAN •

ABC Australia, 21 March 2017 AAN’s Kate Clark is quoted here, as one of a number of analysts, on options for an Afghanistan policy under president Trump: Kate Clark, from the Afghan[istan] Analysts Network, says Afghanistan would fail if Mr Trump were to cut aid. “Clearly, if international funding — especially to the military but […]

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Former Taleban shadow governor of Faryab, Qari Salahuddin Ayubi, (barefaced with black turban, sitting in the centre) used to be famous for mobilising fighters with fiery speeches in Uzbek. He was arrested by the NDS in September 2015. He was replaced by Mufti Muzafar. (photo: Taleban media)

Non-Pashtun Taleban of the North (2): Case studies of Uzbek Taleban in Faryab and Sar-e Pul

Obaid Ali •

The Taleban have spent many years ‘localising’ their fight in the north, recruiting local fighters and commanders and keying in to Afghan Uzbek madrassa networks in Pakistan and the north. That drive has paid off; in the Uzbek-majority provinces of Faryab and Sar-e Pul, the Taleban have gained significant ground against the government. In this […]

War and Peace Read more

To Afghanistan Not Syria? Islamic State Diverts Tajik Fighters South

AAN •

Jamestown Foundation (Eurasia Daily Monitor), 15 March 2017 Looking at cases of Tajiks trying to enter Afghanistan, from Russia through Iran, in order to join Daesh, author Edward Lemon cites AAN as a source a few times – and directly relates to an AAN dispatch by Christian Bleuer (“To Syria, not Afghanistan: Central Asian jihadis […]

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Picture shows damaged building

AAN’s Thomas Ruttig on „How safe is Afghanistan (for deportations)?“

Thomas Ruttig •

Here are AAN co-director Thomas Ruttig’s next speaking appointments: four public events in four German cities (Mainz, Hamburg, Geesthacht near Hamburg, Berlin), all before the end of March, each time about the Afghan issue that dominates Germany’s domestic debate: whether the country is ‘safe’ enough that the German government (at the start of an election campaign […]

Events Read more
Girls actually in the classroom. Getting Afghan children, especially girls, to school, has been considered a major success story for post-Taleban Afghanistan, but how many children appearing in the statistics are ‘ghosts'? (Photo: Christine-Felice Roehrs)

A Success Story Marred by Ghost Numbers: Afghanistan’s inconsistent education statistics

Ali Yawar Adili •

For years, the Afghan government and donors have cited the growing number of children going to school in Afghanistan as an important post-Taleban success, despite closer scrutiny showing that numbers may have been inflated. The issue came to a head when the newly appointed education minister in the National Unity Government, Asadullah Hanif Balkhi, said […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

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