Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: May 2018

Widespread Violence yet Perpetrators go Unpunished: A new UN report on violence against Afghan women

Jelena Bjelica • Thomas Ruttig •

Violence against women – be it murder, beatings, mutilation, child marriage, the giving away of girls in marriage to resolve disputes (baad) or other harmful practices – remains widespread throughout Afghanistan, despite the government’s efforts to criminalise such practices, the UN has found. Its new report highlights how mediation by government and traditional actors, which […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

The Afghanistan Election Conundrum (8): Controversies over voter registration

Ali Yawar Adili • Thomas Ruttig •

As the Independent Election Commission (IEC) struggles to prepare for parliamentary and district council elections due to be held on 20 October 2018, one key prerequisite – voter registration – is not going well. Registration turnout, so far, has been very low, in part, due to security fears stemming from a new system aimed at […]

Political Landscape Read more

Where US troops train in Germany, Afghan refugees are recovering from war

Thomas Ruttig •

Stars and Stripes, 26 May 2018 J.P. Lawrence reports from Kaiserslautern in south-western Germany where, in apartments occupied by US troops during the Cold War, now refugees from Afghanistan live and are offered mental health services by he Red Cross, as refugees suffer from PTSD at rates 15 to 30 times the average. Giving background on reasons […]

AAN in the Media Read more

At any price we will take the mines: the Islamic State, the Taliban, and Afghanistan’s white talc mountains

AAN •

Global Witness, 25 May 2018 This new report by the NGO Global Witness provides a rare and detailed insight in an aspect of the political and resources economy of the Afghan war – looking at one of the less ‘sexy’ minerals, talc. While some media picked it up under headlines such as “Baby powder helping […]

Recommended Reads Read more

Uprising, ALP and Taleban in Andar: The arc of government failure  

Kate Clark • Fazl Rahman Muzhary •

The Taleban look to be preparing for a new onslaught on Andar district centre. The name ‘Andar’ is still full of political resonance, gained in the summer of 2012 when the Taleban were suddenly and swiftly pushed out of a large part of the district. That counter-insurgency in an insurgent stronghold was styled the ‘Andar […]

War and Peace Read more

Thematic Dossier XIX: Political Parties in Afghanistan

AAN Team •

The years since 2001 constitute the longest period in Afghanistan’s history during which political parties have been able to operate openly. For the first time parties are fully legal. Despite many shortcomings, they have become a reality within the polity of current-day Afghanistan. This political parties dossier compiles all AAN dispatches and reports that deal […]

Dossiers Read more

Clashes continue in Farah as Taliban renew attacks

Thomas Ruttig •

Stars and Stripes, 17 May 2018 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in this article about the latest fighting in Farah: The attacks on Farah are similar to Taliban offensives that captured the provincial capital of Kunduz in 2015, said Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network. (…) “The Taliban have positioned themselves in Farah […]

AAN in the Media Read more

Offizieller Armutsbericht: Afghanen wieder so arm wie früher

Thomas Ruttig •

Tageszeitung, 17 May 2018 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig looks at latest reports by the Afghan government, Oxfam and the Swedish Committee on (low) aid effectiveness in Afghanistan, resulting in a poverty rate as high as in 2003, shortly after the fall of the Taleban regime (in German).

AAN in the Media Read more

The State of Aid and Poverty in 2018: A new look at aid effectiveness in Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig • Jelena Bjelica •

Two new reports have found that despite improvements in some sectors, aid delivery in Afghanistan is still largely ineffective and poverty has risen. A joint Oxfam and Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) report on aid effectiveness reveals that while development aid has decreased, donor support continues to be fragmented and aid dependency remains high. Meanwhile, […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

[Afghanistan-]Gutachter: Angekratztes Monopol

Thomas Ruttig •

Wiener Zeitung, 17 May 2018 An update by the Vienna-based daily on the controversy around the only  Afghanistan “expert” in Austrian asylum cases who has come under fire for his “rosy” picture of the war-torn country, including by a counter-expertise by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig (in German): Für den deutschen Afghanistan-Experten Thomas Ruttig steht jedoch jetzt […]

AAN in the Media Read more

Offizieller Armutsbericht: Afghanen wieder so arm wie früher

Thomas Ruttig •

Tageszeitung, 17 May 2018 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig reports about the dramatically increased number of Afghans living under the poverty line – 55 per cent, up from 51,4 per cent in 2003, the second year after the Taleban  (in German).

AAN in the Media Read more

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