Month: August 2019

Afghanistan: Die undurchsichtige Strategie von Trumps Sonderbotschafter

Thomas Ruttig •

Die Welt, 31 August 2019 In this op-ed for the conservative German daily, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig looks at the contours of the pending US-Taleban agreement and argues that this is still short of a peace agreement (in German, behind a paywall). But the full text can be read here.  

31 Aug 2019

US-Verhandlungen mit den Taliban: „Dieses Abkommen werden viele sehr problematisch finden“

Thomas Ruttig •

Deutschlandfunk, 30 August 2019 Interview on German public radio (in German) with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, discussing the pros and cons of the bilateral US-Taleban not-yet-peace agreement (audio and transcript).

30 Aug 2019

US-Taleban talks: An imminent agreement without peace?

Thomas Ruttig • Martine van Bijlert •

News coming out of the latest round of US-Taleban negotiations suggest that an agreement is imminent, but that in the desire to meet the White House’s 1 September 2019 deadline, the US have made concessions that may well complicate an actual peace agreement in Afghanistan. It appears that the US have dropped the “nothing is […]

30 Aug 2019

Die Kulalgo-Killings

Thomas Ruttig •

Neues Deutschland, 29 August 2019 A shorter German version of the AAN research about a US-Afghan night raid that killed 11 young men – the Afghan government originally claimed they were Taleban, locals insist they were not (behind a paywall). A full PDF version here: 20190821ND-Die Kulalgo Killings PDF

29 Aug 2019

Why has Rural Poverty in Afghanistan Got Worse? New AAN paper on post-2001 agricultural policy

Adam Pain •

A new AAN paper seeks to understand why agricultural policy since 2001 has failed to increase production, lift rural Afghans out of poverty or secure their food supply. It finds the answers in the stories agricultural development planners tell themselves about how to ‘modernise’ agriculture, even as they ignore evidence from the field. AAN guest […]

27 Aug 2019

Growing Out Of Poverty? Questioning agricultural policy in Afghanistan

Adam Pain •

A new AAN paper seeks to understand why agricultural policy since 2001 has failed to increase production, lift rural Afghans out of poverty or secure their food supply. It finds the answers in the stories agricultural development planners tell themselves about how to ‘modernise’ agriculture, even as they ignore evidence from the field. AAN guest […]

27 Aug 2019

Compte enrere per a un acord entre els talibans i els Estats Units

Thomas Ruttig •

ara.cat, 25 August 2019 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in this article in the Catalan daily on the US-Taleban negotiations in Afghanistan: En canvi, Thomas Ruttig, codirector d’Afghanistan Analysts Network -un dels centres d’estudis més prestigiosos sobre l’Afganistan, que compta amb personal sobre el terreny permanentment-, fa una altra lectura. Segons afirma, els EUA volen […]

25 Aug 2019

Districts with no voter registration/participation, parliamentary election 2018

Annex: Districts with no 2018 voter participation province_name district_name pop_18_19_CSO total_vr VR BADAKHSHAN WARDOJ 23,866 0 NO VR BADAKHSHAN YAMGAN 28,101 0 NO VR BADGHIS GHORMACH 60,179 5,302 VR BUT NO VOTES BAGHLAN DAHANAE GHORI 64,317 0 NO VR FARYAB KOHESTAN 59,538 0 NO VR FARYAB KHWAJA SABZPOSH 55,432 1,679 VR BUT NO VOTES FARYAB […]

23 Aug 2019

Past as Prologue? What the parliamentary election results tell us about the September presidential election

Scott Warden •

To better understand the influences that will shape the outcome of the upcoming presidential election, guest author Scott Worden (with input from Colin Cookman)* analyses recent voter registration patterns, as well as voting patterns from the last parliamentary election, in October 2018. He found large differences between provinces and regions – in security conditions, rates […]

23 Aug 2019

La paix est-elle possible avec les talibans en Afghanistan ?

Thomas Ruttig •

La Croix, 22 August 2019 Full interview (in French) with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, discussing the topic whether “peace is possible with the Taleban” – answer: yes, but cautioning that a US-Taleban agreement would not mean immediate peace.

22 Aug 2019

Bommen, granaten en vredesonderhandelingen in Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

Mondiaal Nieuws, 21 August 2019 This article on the Dutch news website about attempts for an Afghan peace and the strength of IS, as a possible spoiler, quotes AAN’s Thomas Ruttig (not fully clear from which source) saying that ISKP was “marginal but still lethal”: Het is overigens niet helemaal duidelijk hoe belangrijk of marginaal […]

21 Aug 2019

On intensified violence in Afghanistan

AAN •

ABC News, 20 August 2019 Watch a short video of AAN’s Kate Clark talking about hopes (and lack of) for peace among Afghans, via the above Twitter link.

20 Aug 2019