Month: October 2019

Afghanistan’s 2019 Election (17): IEC tally process underway but figures remain murky

AAN Team •

The IEC aims to announce the preliminary results of the presidential elections on 19 October 2019. It is however struggling with the logistical challenge of gathering and vetting even the most basic electoral data. There is also the question of how to deal with the aftermath of yet another instance of a patchily implemented, sophisticated […]

12 Oct 2019

War Without End

AAN •

Newsline, October 2019 A short AAN quote in the article by Rahimullah Yusufzai for the Pakistani monthly magazine on violence on E-day in Afghanistan: The Taliban claimed to have undertaken 531 attacks, the Afghanistan Analysts Network put the number at 400 and the Afghan interior ministry downplayed the Taliban threat by insisting that the “enemy” […]

11 Oct 2019

AAN contributes to book on “Education and Development in Afghanistan”

Thomas Ruttig •

After years of military interventions, the current situation in Afghanistan is highly ambivalent and partially contradictory – especially regarding the interplay of development, peace, security, education, and economy. Despite numerous initiatives, Afghanistan is still confronted with a poor security and economic condition. This volume investigates the tension between these ambivalent developments. Sociologists, political and cultural […]

11 Oct 2019

New UNAMA Civilian Causalities Report: US targeting of alleged drug labs goes against international humanitarian law

Jelena Bjelica •

UNAMA released a special report on Wednesday 9 October, which examines in detail the United States airstrikes against alleged methamphetamine processing facilities in Bakwa district of Farah province. The report concludes that the operation, which took place on 5 May 2019, “did not meet the definition of legitimate military objectives under international law.” It is […]

10 Oct 2019

Former Afghan Warlord Hekmatyar Claims Two-Thirds of Ghani Votes Fraudulent

Thomas Ruttig •

Voice of America, 10 October 2019 In this article, AAN research is quoted on data of the Afghan presidential election which is known so far: Independent analysts, like those of the Kabul-based Afghanistan Analysts Network, have also questioned at least some of the turnout data presented publicly so far, calling some of the numbers “implausible.” […]

10 Oct 2019

‘Ample Opportunities’ For Fraud Bedevil Afghan Presidential Election

Thomas Ruttig •

RFE/RL, 9 October 2019 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted here, among a number of other analysts, is quoted on some seemingly implausible turnout figures that have come up in the Afghan presidential election: Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the independent Kabul-based Afghanistan Analysts Network, says that “everything now depends” on whether the IEC sticks to its […]

9 Oct 2019

Afghanistan’s 2019 Election (16): Signs of fraud in Zabul

Aref Zabuli •

In largely Taleban-controlled Zabul province, there are considerable discrepancies between the reported turnout and what was observed on the ground. After a very quiet campaign and fighting near the provincial capital and in all districts on election day, it was not a surprise to see very few voters in the polling centres in Qalat city. […]

8 Oct 2019

Afghanistan: Little Help for Conflict-Linked Trauma

Thomas Ruttig •

Human Rights Watch, 7 October 2019 On the day the US-led military intervention in Afghanistan was started exactly 18 years ago, the human rights organisation says the Afghan government and international donors are failing in providing mental health services to a heavily traumatised population: Forty-one years of war have had a devastating impact on the […]

7 Oct 2019

Fourth Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict in Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

United Nations, 2 October 2019 Between 2015 and 2018, the country task force verified 14,202 grave violations against children throughout the country. Of serious concern, the killing and maiming of 12,599 children was verified, representing almost a third of all civilian casualties and an increase of 82 per cent in child casualties compared with the […]

7 Oct 2019

Afghanistan’s 2019 Election (15): Administrative and technical problems in Kabul city

William Maley •

Continuing our reports of how the 2019 Afghan presidential election went, we take a close look at the voting in Kabul city. With the most registered voters of any city or province by a long way, Kabul is one of the most electorally-significant. With its mixed population, the voting intentions of its population are difficult […]

7 Oct 2019

Afghanistan’s 2019 Election (14): In Herat, power and comms failure, district insecurity and low turnout

S Reza Kazemi •

There was a slight increase in campaigning in the last few days ahead of the poll, especially in the provincial capital, but E-Day itself suffered from electricity and telecommunication failures in many parts Herat province. Worse, the Taleban launched attacks on areas near polling centres in districts across the province with a view mostly to […]

5 Oct 2019

Overview of open and closed PCs and PSs on 28 September by province

4 Oct 2019