Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: February 2019

Visitor at the opening of Kabul’s newest museum, the Afghanistan Centre for Memories and Dialogue, which commemorates war crimes and their victims (Photo Hadi Morawej 2019)

Peace in The Air, But Where Is Justice? Efforts to get transitional justice on the table

Ehsan Qaane • Sari Kouvo •

A new museum, commemorating war crimes and their victims, has opened in Kabul. The Afghanistan Centre for Memories and Dialogue is dedicated to collecting the stories of survivors and the families of victims of war crimes. Their voices have rarely been heard in recent decades, partly because dealing with the legacy of violations in the […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

AAN Co-director, Thomas Ruttig on history of Afghan conflict and the current peace process (in German) – February 2019

Thomas Ruttig •

AAN’s Thomas Ruttig discusses history of the Afghan conflict, Taleban and current peace process with German outlet Jung & Naiv.      

Podcasts Read more

One Land, Two Rules (3): Delivering public services in insurgency-affected Dasht-e Archi district in Kunduz province

Obaid Ali •

Dasht-e Archi, a district in the northeastern corner of Kunduz province is almost entirely controlled by the Taleban. They have established shadow sub-national governance structures in the district, while most local government officials are absent and work remotely from the provincial capital. Although the Taleban do not provide any services themselves, they have co-opted government […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

Die Vitrinen von Kabul

Thomas Ruttig •

Tageszeitung, 26 February 2019 Read Thomas Ruttig’s long reportage about the newly opened war victims museum and dialogue centre in Kabul – still forced to operate half underground, in a basement (in German).

AAN in the Media Read more

US envoy meets with Taliban co-founder ahead of new talks

Thomas Ruttig •

AP/Minneapolis StarTribune, 25 February 2019 This news item has two quotes, one from AAN’s Thomas Ruttig and one from earlier AAN research on the Taleban’s Mulla Baradar who met chief US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad for the first time yesterday in Doha.    

AAN in the Media Read more

UNO: Zahl ziviler Opfer in Afghanistan erreicht neuen Höchststand

Thomas Ruttig •

AFP/Schweriner Volkszeitung, Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung etc, 24 February 2019 A short quote from AAN’s Thomas Ruttig on the record Afghan civilian casualty figure reported by the UN (in German): “Der Anstieg an zivilen Opfern belegt, dass sich der Krieg 2018 intensiviert hat”, sagt Thomas Ruttig von der Denkfabrik Afghanistan Analysts Network. 

AAN in the Media Read more
The front page of UNAMA’s 2018 report into the protection of civilians shows a group of journalists and first responders caught in a suicide attack in downtown Kabul on 30 April 2018. They had arrived at the scene of an earlier blast when a suicide attacker posing as a journalist detonated another explosive device. Nine journalists were killed and six injured. ISKP claimed responsibility for both attacks, which together killed 21 civilians and injured 42 others, including four children. (Photo: Omar Sobhani /Reuters)

Record Numbers of Civilian Casualties Overall, from Suicide Attacks and Air Strikes: UNAMA reports on the conflict in 2018

Kate Clark •

The downturn in civilian casualties recorded in 2017 has reversed. UNAMA, in its 2018 Annual Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Afghanistan, released today, records almost 11,000 civilians injured or killed in 2018, a five per cent increase compared to 2017. It is the highest number of civilian casualties on record. […]

War and Peace Read more

Friedensverhandlungen für Afghanistan: Die Taliban im Salon der Weltpolitik

Thomas Ruttig •

Deutschlandfunk, 24 February 2019 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in this analysis of the ongoing peace talks in Afghanistan by this German public broadcaster: Doch wie bisher werden auch bei den Gesprächen an diesem Montag in Katar keine Vertreter der afghanischen Regierung mit am Tisch sitzen. Ein strategischer Fehler, sagt Thomas Ruttig. Er leitet den […]

AAN in the Media Read more

The Taliban have not changed, warn Afghans living under their rule

Thomas Ruttig •

AFP/France24, 22 February 2019 AFP has looked at life under the Taleban in Kandahar and whether or not they have changed their attitudes. AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is also quoted in this article as saying: “What they say is don’t listen to music, listen to sermons and religious programs. But there is no smashing of TV […]

AAN in the Media Read more
Smoke rises from where an American airstrike targeted a presumed ISKP fighting position in Mamand Valley. As seen from Combat Outpost Blackfish on April 22, 2018. Photo: Author

“Faint lights twinkling against the dark”: Reportage from the fight against ISKP in Nangrahar

Andrew Quilty •

It has been almost four years since the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) captured territory in southern Nangrahar province, where it ruled with extreme brutality, and nearly two years since the United States military and Afghan government forces began concertedly fighting the group there. (The Taleban, too, have fought ISKP sporadically.) The last commander of […]

War and Peace Read more

Today in History, 19/2

AAN •

Yahoo News, 19 February 2019 In its column ‘Today in History’, AAN reporting appears for 19 February 2018: 2018 – The Afghanistan Analysts Network says while there has been a decline in the overall number of casualties in the country, suicide bombings have increased, killing and injuring more than ten thousand in 2017.  

AAN in the Media Read more

En Afghanistan, les talibans préparent leur grand retour

Thomas Ruttig •

Tribune de Genève, 17 February 2019 A short interview with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig (in French) about the US-Taleban talks and possible repercussions (after a pay wall) – but here it is:   Les talibans ont mis en place un régime autocratique dans les régions sous leur contrôle. Peuvent-ils accepter la démocratie afghane qui repose sur […]

AAN in the Media Read more

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