Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: July 2017

UNAMA Mid-Year Report 2017: Number of civilian casualties still at “record level”

Jelena Bjelica • Thomas Ruttig •

The number of civilians in the war in Afghanistan remained on “record high levels” in the first six months of 2017, with Kabul remaining the most affected city in the country. These are the two main features that stand out in UNAMA’s just released mid-year report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. It […]

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Photograph of the newly appointed Taleban leader Haibatullah, which circulated on social media within hours of the announcement - previous Taleban leaders were always careful to avoid having an up-to-date picture of them in the media (Photo Source: Islamic Emirates' social media post)

AAN Q&A: Taleban leader Hebatullah’s new treatise on jihad

Borhan Osman •

Taleban leader Hebatullah Akhundzada has published a book which provides fresh clues about his current concerns and interests. The treatise is largely a collection of quotes from Islamic literature, mostly prophetic sayings, on various aspects of jihad. It contains little of the author’s personal opinions and interpretations. Yet, the choice of themes and sources, the […]

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حکومت افغانستان از محکمه‌ی بین‌المللی جزایی یک سال مهلت خواست

AAN •

Ettelaat-e Ruz, 12 July 2017 (25 Saratan 1396) The Kabul-based daily published an updated version of Ehsan Qaane’s AAN dispatch about the deliberations between the International Criminal Court and the Afghan government.

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AAN Q&A: An established industry – Basic facts about Afghanistan’s opium-driven economy

Jelena Bjelica •

Afghanistan’s unflattering label – the world’s leading producer of opium and its derivatives, morphine and heroin – has proved hard to remove. Over the last ten years, opium cultivation has increased steadily reaching unprecedented highs, whilst eradication levels have been decreasing and the country has slowly slid into more severe poverty. To see where Afghanistan […]

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A political solution to the Afghanistan crisis

Thomas Ruttig •

ODI/USIP, 10 July 2017 Watch this 47min video (or listen to the audio) of a panel with the head of AAN’s advisory board, Amb Francesc Vendrell, at an event in Washington DC co-hosted by ODI and the United States Institute of Peace to launch a new roadmap for political stability in Afghanistan. Other panelists: Said Tayeb Jawad (Ambassador […]

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New Taleban Attacks in Kunduz: Less coordinated, still well-placed to threaten the city

Obaid Ali •

In early July 2017, the Taleban carried out several simultaneous attacks against the Afghan security forces in Kunduz province, in an attempt to, once again, inch closer to the provincial centre. The attacks were less coordinated and sustained than they had been in the past years (including in 2015 when Kunduz fell and in 2016 […]

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Refugee deported hours before court suspends the order

Thomas Ruttig •

Daily Finland, 7 July 2017 “A teenage asylum seeker from Afghanistan was deported from Finland on Tuesday a few hours before the court suspended the deportation order (…). The Turku appeal court allowed the 19-year-old asylum seeker Zaki Hussaini to stay in Finland based on his work permit application, but the law enforcers had already made […]

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Afghanistan refers Anas Haqqani to International Criminal Court: AAN

AAN •

One TV, 6 July 2017 The Afghan TV’s website (mis)quotes AAN’s Ehsan Qaane saying that the Haqqani case was referred to the ICC – this was not what we reported, but rather that this case was among a number of cases on which the Afghan government shared information with the ICC. It did so in an attempt […]

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Update on the Afghan Local Police: Making sure they are armed, trained, paid and exist

Kate Clark •

The Afghan Local Police (ALP) emerged out of an American special forces’ project to establish ‘community defence forces’ in 2009 and 2010. Despite being viewed by many as ‘militias in uniform’, the ALP has survived and grown to become a significant part of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), present in all but three of […]

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After a bloody month in Afghanistan, demonstrators demand security reforms

Martine van Bijlert •

Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2017 AAN’s Ehsan Qaane comments on the demonstration of 3 July by the new Uprising for Change movement: Ehsan Qaane of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a Kabul-based research group, said ethnic leaders believe Ghani is not giving them enough authority. “People think he is trying to remove Uzbeks and Tajiks […]

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Trump’s ‘Maintenance’ Strategy Unlikely to Break Afghan Stalemate

Thomas Ruttig •

The Globe Post, 1 July 2017 This article in The Globe Post – a project run by exiled Turkish journalists – quotes, among others, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about the US’ (so far, non-) strategy for Afghanistan: Thomas Ruttig, Co-Director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, said the CIA and other U.S. special forces may pursue a […]

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