Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: May 2019

Mullah Baradar bekommt ein Gesicht: Der Verhandler der Taliban

Thomas Ruttig •

Tageszeitung, 29 May 2019 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig wrote a portrait for the Berlin-based daily of the new political deputy chief of the Taleban Mulla Baradar who, factually (but not officially  – he is actually the supervisor of the Taleban negotiators) and who had met US Afghan envoy Khalilzad and participated in the recent intra-Afghan meeting […]

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Afghanistan verschiebt Provinzratswahlen

Thomas Ruttig •

dpa/Salzburger Nachrichten, 29 May 2019 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in this agency report on the postponement of Afghanistan’s provincial council elections: Afghanistan-Kenner halten die Verschiebung der Wahlen angesichts des Umfelds für notwendig. Sie sei aber dennoch nicht gut, sagte der Afghanistan-Experte Thomas Ruttig von der Denkfabrik Afghanistan Analysts Network, denn es würde die institutionellen […]

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Mission Creep: How the NSA’s Game-Changing Targeting System Built for Iraq and Afghanistan Ended Up on the Mexican Border

AAN •

The Intercept, 29 May 2019 The article refers to an AAN case study of a targeted killing case based on mistaken identity in Afghanistan by Kate Clark: In 2010, U.S. Special Forces killed a number of people in a convoy that belonged to a candidate in the Afghan parliamentary election. It later turned out that […]

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A dramatic development in the Afghan drugs industry – the proliferation of low cost methamphetamine

AAN •

LSE blog, 28 May 2019 David Mansfield and Alexander Soderholm point out a new development in the Afghan drugs industry – the proliferation of low cost methamphetamine, and argue that this is obscured by the new and – in contrast – highly publicised  US airstrikes against drugs labs in South-western Afghanistan, “claiming that they caused the […]

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Afghanistan’s Air Is Deadlier Than Its War

AAN •

Foreign Policy, 26 May 2019 Despite the headline that might somewhat trivialises the war, this photo essay points to a severely underreported part of Afghan reality: the lethal danger that stems from environmental damage (much of it conflict- and poverty-related): Air pollution is killing more Afghans than the war. According to the State of Global […]

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On 20 May, the Council of Presidential Candidates called a press conference and warned that if President Ghani did not step down on 22 May, crisis and instability would befall the country. The Council has proposed a caretaker government to lead elections, reconciliation process and transfer of power to the next elected president. Photo: General Murad Ali Murad’s Facebook Page

A Snapshot of the Week: Has Ghani consolidated his extended presidential term?

Ali Yawar Adili • Jelena Bjelica •

Kabul has been on heightened security alert, as the presidential term of President Ashraf Ghani approached its constitutional end on 1 Jawza (22 May 2019). The authorities responded to calls by the political opposition for Ghani to step down in favour of a caretaker government and threats that protestors would take to the streets by […]

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Afghanistan’s Anti-Corruption Institutions: Too many, and with too few results

Jelena Bjelica •

Corruption in the Afghan state has blossomed and bloomed in the years since 2001. A report published by UNAMA today on Afghanistan’s fight against corruption highlights how the frequent changes in corruption-related legislation and a mushrooming of anti-graft institutions have done little to stop it; recent reductions in petty corruption – as shown by the […]

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The Results of Afghanistan’s 2018 Parliamentary Elections: A new, but incomplete Wolesi Jirga

Ali Yawar Adili •

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has, at long last, almost seven months after the ballot was held, finalised the results of the 2018 parliamentary elections. The parliament itself is almost four years overdue – the elections should have been held in 2015. Even now, Afghanistan does not have a completely newly-elected Wolesi Jirga as Ghazni’s […]

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Afghanistan: Wie viel Macht hat der Präsident?

Thomas Ruttig •

Telepolis, 16 May 2019 Afghan-Austrian journalist Emraz Feroz, in this article for one of the leading German-language news websites, quotes AAN’s Thomas Ruttig on discussion around the power of still-Afghan President Ghani  after the Peace Loya Jirga and at the eve of the end of his first tenure: “Das Problem und teilweise auch der Anlass […]

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U.S. Raises the Stakes in Afghanistan From the Air

AAN •

Foreign Policy, 16 May 2019 Starts as a reportage from Qala-ye Zal district of Kunduz where the government only controls two of 107 villages: “‘This is a safe area for the Taliban,’ Andarabi said. ‘They can have picnics in Qala-i-Zal, because the government doesn’t do any operations here.’ […] And now, in what appears to […]

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For Afghan Refugee Women, There’s No Escape From Violence

AAN •

Foreign Policy, 5 April 2019 “Thousands of women have set off on their own for Turkey, but harassment from Afghan men often follows them to their new country” writes Fariba Nawa. Stories of Afghan girls and women, on the run from domestic violence, death threats, sexual assault, forced marriage, and a 40-year war.

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