July 2018 - Page 2 of 2 - Afghanistan Analysts Network

Washington will mit Taliban sprechen

Tageszeitung, 18 July 2018 In this guest article for the Berlin-based daily, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig summarises latest reports that the White House had ordered diplomats to seek direct talks with the Taleban and break the diplomatic deadlock between the insurgents and the government. He also indicates that the form of US proposals indicates that Washington […]

18 Jul 2018

AAN in the Media Read more

Time to hit the political reset button in Afghanistan

AAN •

Asia Times online, 18 July 2018 Afghan analyst Haroun Mir makes a number of valid points on the proposed US-Taleban talks, namely thatthe Afghan government “lost the peace momentum because of the absence of a consensus among key members of the governing coalition”, adding that “the Afghan political elite in Kabul, instead of closing ranks […]

18 Jul 2018

UNAMA Mid-Year Report on Civilian Casualties: Highest number of deaths on record

Kate Clark •

UNAMA has released its mid-year assessment of the harm done to civilians in the Afghan conflict. It found that more civilians were killed in the first six months of 2018 than in any year since 2009 when UNAMA started systematic monitoring. This was despite the Eid ul-Fitr ceasefire, which all parties to the conflict apart […]

15 Jul 2018

War and Peace Read more

Graft and Remilitarisation: A look back at efforts to disarm, demobilise, reconcile and reintegrate

Kate Clark •

Even before the Eid truce suddenly made a peace process in Afghanistan imaginable, international civilian and military circles were wondering what they could do to support one. The government, the High Peace Council (HPC) and donors are also currently negotiating future funding for the HPC. It seems a good moment, says AAN’s Kate Clark, to […]

12 Jul 2018

War and Peace Read more

AAN’s Doris Buddenberg and Jelena Bjelica on opium in Afghanistan – July 2018. Episode: 1

AAN Guests •

Member of AAN’s advisory board and also, the Former Resident Representative of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Afghanistan Doris Buddenberg and AAN’s Jelena who also worked with the UNODC between 2010-14. Together they discuss the role on opium in Afghanistan.

9 Jul 2018

Podcasts Read more

The IEC office in Ghazni city remained closed from 28 April to 27 June. A banner hanged by protesters on its gate says: “We Ghazni people do not want the bitter disaster of the past to be repeated in the Wolesi Jirga elections.”

The Afghanistan Election Conundrum (9): The 2010 Ghazni spectre rears its head again

Ali Yawar Adili •

Protests continue in front of the Independent Election Commission’s office in Ghazni, though it was able to reopen on 27 June following a 63-day sit-in protest at its gates that shut it down, stymying election preparations throughout the province. This comes despite the IEC’s legally problematic about-face to split Ghazni province’s electoral constituencies for the […]

5 Jul 2018

Political Landscape Read more

[Paktika:] Grim Figures for Maternal Mortality

AAN •

IWPR, 4 July 2018 There are no official figures available for maternal mortality in Paktika, but Waligul [the provincial director of public health for Paktika] estimated that between 80 and 90 babies died during delivery each month, with an annual total of around 1,000. (…) “We only have one female doctor to serve 250,000 women in […]

4 Jul 2018

“Deutschland hilft den Falschen”: Die Fehler der Aufbauhilfe in Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

Deutschlandfunk, 3 July 2018 In this ca 45 minutes-long feature for the German public radio station, author Marc Thörner looks into an example of less than transparent German development financing in Mazar-e Sharif which indirectly might have helped to cement former governor Atta’s rule. Thomas Ruttig is one of the interviewees, talking about the political situation […]

3 Jul 2018