Month: December 2019

Presidential Election Preliminary Results- 2019

The preliminary results of the 2019 presidential election broken down by the votes for each candidate were as follows, can be downloaded here. (see the original source here):

22 Dec 2019

Peace in the Districts (2): Prospects, approaches and an emphasis on a ‘good peace’

S Reza Kazemi •

In this second of two dispatches on what people in ten districts across Afghanistan think about prospects for peace, we hear their views on the relationship between a possible high-level peace deal and actual peace in the districts. Interviewees expressed a striking mix of optimistic and sceptical opinions as to the local viability of any […]

20 Dec 2019

One Land, Two Rules (9): Delivering public services in insurgency-affected Jalrez district of Wardak province

Ehsan Qaane •

Ethnically-mixed Jalrez district has seen increased Taleban activity since 2014, with approximately half of it now under their control. The district centre is the most contested sub-district, having been surrounded and repeatedly attacked by the Taleban. Twenty kilometres of the secondary Kabul-Bamyan highway, which connects the Hazarajat to the Afghan capital, is under Taleban control. […]

16 Dec 2019

Violence, corruption threaten Afghan progress in getting kids to school

AAN • Thomas Ruttig •

Reuters, 15 December 2019 This article on the new Afghan school year quotes AAN’s Ali Yawar Adili, on mismanagement in the education ministry: Ali Yawar Adili at the Afghanistan Analysts Network said there was huge mismanagement, citing the case of the Education Ministry printing thousands of incorrect school textbooks that now sit rotting in a […]

15 Dec 2019

Томас Рутиг: Войната срещу тероризма унищожи идеята за демокрация в Афганистан (“The War on Terror Undermined the Idea of Democracy in Afghanistan”)

Thomas Ruttig •

Bulgarian National Radio, 14 December 2019 Listen to (and read the summary of) an interview with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig on Bulgaria’s public broadcaster.

14 Dec 2019

Legal Arguments and War Crimes: the ICC Appeals Hearing on Afghanistan in Five Questions

Ehsan Qaane • Sari Kouvo •

The judges of the International Criminal Court’s Appeals Chamber are now deciding whether to authorise an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly perpetrated in Afghanistan. The court’s Pre-Trial Chamber decided in April to reject such an investigation. At the appeal hearing, everyone who spoke agreed that crimes severe enough for the ICC […]

13 Dec 2019

18 Jahre Krieg, 18 Jahre Lügen

Thomas Ruttig •

NachDenkenSeiten, 12 December 2019 In the context of the Washington Post’s ‘Afghanistan papers’ (and internal US statements that they did not have “a clue” about the country), Austro-Afghan journalist Emran Feroz recalls an episode of a podium discussion between a German general and AAN’s Thomas Ruttig when the former talked about “enemy groups” in Afghanistan […]

12 Dec 2019

Interne Afghanistan-Papiere – Uneinig ins Chaos

Thomas Ruttig •

ZDF, 10 December 2019 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted about the US ‘Afghanistan papers’ obtained by the Washington Post (in German): Der Afghanistan-Experte Thomas Ruttig betont, dass diese Koordinierungsprobleme in der internationalen Koalition wie auch das Ausmaß von Korruption und Misswirtschaft schon lange bekannt seien. “Kritik an den Deutschen hat es immer gegeben, etwa dass […]

11 Dec 2019

Peace in the Districts (1): A chasm between high talks and local concerns in Afghanistan

S Reza Kazemi •

As talks between the United States and the Taleban resume in Doha, we bring you the first of two dispatches on what Afghans in ten districts across the country think about the prospects for peace. The focus of the first dispatch is a theme which emerged from the interviews, the relationship – or lack of […]

11 Dec 2019

More US contractors have died in Afghanistan than US troops, but the Pentagon doesn’t keep track

AAN • Thomas Ruttig •

Tasks and Purpose, 9 December 2019 On top of the Afghanistan war casualty figures de-classified by a move of the Washington Post, here more figures from a often overlooked category of actors in that war.

9 Dec 2019

Afghanistan’s 2019 Elections (26): A Q&A about the ongoing election stalemate

Ali Yawar Adili •

The aftermath of Afghanistan’s 2019 presidential election has now dragged on for 72 days. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has missed two dates for the announcement of preliminary results and is 50 days behind its original election timetable. The commission has not decided yet when it will announce the results. Meanwhile, the IEC’s audit and […]

8 Dec 2019

Will Trump Close the Deal to End Afghanistan’s Long War?

AAN • Thomas Ruttig •

Time, 5 December 2019 The US news magazine quotes AAN’s Kate Clark on the Afghan context of violence of the Afghan ‘peace’ talks: “One of the real frustrations in the last year is that the talks have been going on, but for many in the countryside, it feels like the fighting has escalated,” says Kate […]

5 Dec 2019