Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: December 2018

Is it safe for Europe to force Afghan migrants to return home?

Thomas Ruttig

Christian Science Monitor, and MSN News 31 December 2018 Quotes from AAN’s Thomas Ruttig in this article – who thinks the headline should better read ‘Is it safe at home for forced Afghans?’The article itself correctly mentions “questions about the ethics of sending migrants back to an active war zone.” The article is behind a […]

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What 3 Deaths Among Thousands Tell Us About Afghanistan In 2018

Thomas Ruttig

National Public Radio (online), 30 December 2018 In a look back at three assassinations in Afghanistan in 2018, AAN material is used and linked on General Razeq in Kandahar.

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One of the three civilian cars that were destroyed in a night raid on 30 November 2018 in Alizai village of Andar district. Photo: Author/2018

Unheeded Warnings (2): Ghazni city as vulnerable to Taleban as before

Fazl Rahman Muzhary

The Taleban may have been pushed back out of Ghazni city after their five-day siege in August, but they have continued to expand into new territory around the city. They now have full control of eight districts in Ghazni province. They control the Ghazni-Paktika highway and continue to put pressure on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. In […]

War and Peace Read more

A Tomb in Kabul: The Fate of the Last Amir of Bukhara and his country’s relations with Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig Vladimir N Plastun

In addition to the last Amir of Bukhara’s former garden, on which we reported some days ago, there is another landmark in Kabul that reminds us of this unlucky ruler – his tomb at the Shuhada-ye Salehin cemetery. The Amir, Muhammad Alem Khan, died in Kabul in 1944 and remains buried in Afghanistan despite his […]

Regional Relations Read more

Welche Folgen hätte ein Teilabzug der USA aus Afghanistan?

Thomas Ruttig

Tagesspiegel (online), 26 December 2018 Quotes from AAN’s Thomas Ruttig in the Berlin-based daily newspaper on the (still officially unconfirmed) reports that President Trump is planning a partial troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Thomas pointed out that the Taleban control more territory and population than ever since 2001 and that the implementation of the step could […]

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AAN’s Jelena Bjelica and Obaid Ali with Fabrizio Foschini on cultural history of cannabis in Afghanistan – December 2018. Episode: 3

Fabrizio Foschini

AAN’s Jelena Bjelica and Obaid Ali with Fabrizio Foschini discusses their next dispatch tracing the cultural history of cannabis and hashish in Afghanistan.   [Powerpress]

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US-Teilabzug aus Afghanistan: Keine Politik, nur noch Ressentiment

Thomas Ruttig

Tageszeitung, 24 December 2018 Op-ed commentary by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig in the Berlin daily, about the purported Trump decision on a partial US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan: “First, the withdrawal from the Kurdish areas of Syria where the Kurds will be thrown to the wolves of Assad and Erdogan, and now Afghanistan. (…) It doesn’t happen for […]

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The residential quarters of the exiled Emir, looted and damaged in the 1990s. Photo: Jolyon Leslie/2006

The Emir of Bukhara’s Forlorn Garden: Revealing Kabul’s hidden history

Jolyon Leslie

Kabul is a city of secrets. An outsider needs both curiosity and patience to discover the hidden layers that lie behind mud walls or at the end of dusty lanes. This heritage is however at risk from indiscriminate demolitions and new construction, much of which is uncontrolled. The stories behind places also risk being lost, […]

Context and Culture Read more

Afghanistan: USA im Rückwärtsgang

Thomas Ruttig

Telepolis, 22 December 2018 This compilation of a year-end analysis of Afghanistan by the German news website used a number of quotes from AAN’s Thomas Ruttig and his analysis on his German website Afghanistan Zhaghdablai (all in German): Soweit geht die in vielerlei Beziehung präzisere und auf die afghanische Wirklichkeit bezogene Analyse des deutschen Afghanistankenners […]

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암살ㆍ고문까지 대행하는 용병, 처벌할 법망은 애매모호

Thomas Ruttig

Hankook Ilbo and Daum, 22 December 2018 Quotes from AAN’s Thomas Ruttig in the Korean daily, with respect to the role of private security contractors in Afghanistan: “..하지만 카불 소재 싱크탱크 ‘아프간 분석 네트워크’의 선임연구원 토마스 루티그는 “극단적으로 위험하다”고 잘라 말한다. 그는 기자에게 보낸 이메일 답변에서 “만일 프린스의 계획이 실행에 옮겨진다면 아프간 전쟁은 이윤추구의 장이 되고, […]

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El plan de retirada de tropas de Trump desconcierta a Afganistán

Thomas Ruttig

El País, 21 December 2018 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in the leading Spanish daily on the purported Trump plan to drastically reduce US troops in Afghanistan: “No sé si [Khalilzad] lo sabía, pero no creo que le agrade que Trump debilite su posición en medio de las conversaciones”, declara a EL PAÍS Thomas Ruttig, […]

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Is Trump handing over Afghanistan to Pakistan?

Thomas Ruttig

Deutsche Welle, 21 December 2018 Another quote by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig on the English service of the German public foreign broadcaster on Trump’s reported plans of a troop reduction in Afghanistan: “If the US actually goes ahead with the troop reduction plan, it would be a manifestation of Trump’s ‘America First’ policy,” Thomas Ruttig, an […]

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