Month: January 2020

Frieden in Afghanistan nicht in Sicht: Eskalation des Krieges

Thomas Ruttig •

Tageszeitung, 31 January 2020 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, in a guest article, looks at latest reports reflecting the latest escalation of the Afghanistan war: more Taleban attacks, more US airstrikes, making it the deadliest war for children worldwide.

31 Jan 2020

Gandhara: U.S. Jet That Crashed In Afghanistan Was No Ordinary ‘Spy Plane’

AAN • Thomas Ruttig •

Gandhara (RFE/RL blog), 30 January 2020 Useful technical detail about the US plane that crashed in Ghazni province.

30 Jan 2020

US-Taleban Agreement Still in the Air: Disputes about a ‘ceasefire’ versus ‘reduction of violence’

Thomas Ruttig •

Over the past few weeks, the Taleban first stoked expectations that an agreement with the United States was imminent, and then expressed frustration that it was not yet signed. They had appeared to be trying to edge forward to an agreement by offering to “scale down military operations” against both US and Afghan troops – […]

30 Jan 2020

The Gates of Friendship: How Afghans cross the Afghan-Pakistani border

Ali Mohammad Sabawoon •

There are three official crossings on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, a boundary also known as the Durand Line. Two of these crossings are well-known: Torkham in the east and Spin Boldak in the south of Afghanistan. The gates that separate the two countries in the south read “the Gates of Friendship” in Pashto: […]

28 Jan 2020

Afghanistan’s 2019 Election (28): ECC starts final, decisive phase of complaints procedure

Ali Yawar Adili •

The process to determine the outcome of Afghanistan’s 2019 presidential election has moved into its last phase. The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) has started to deal with the 6,292 appeals filed against the decisions made by its provincial offices. The ECC has 15 working days to adjudicate the appeals, but it may need more time, […]

25 Jan 2020

The Long Road to Peace in Afghanistan: Civil Society’s Role

AAN • Thomas Ruttig •

Just Security, 21 January 2020 An interesting position from Afghan civil society on the ‘peace process’ in Afghanistan, by Mirwais Wardak, Managing Director with Peace Training and Research Organization (PTRO).

23 Jan 2020

The Helmand Food Zone: The Illusion of Success

AAN • Thomas Ruttig •

AREU, 1 December 2019 Initially presented as a drug control project, the Helmand Food Zone came to be accredited for supporting stabilisation and governance in the Helmand province between 2008 and 2012. Driven by political demands rather than evidence, the programme became a flagship in Helmand, and lauded as a success, despite evidence to the […]

22 Jan 2020

Krieg gegen die Krankheit [The war against polio]

AAN • Thomas Ruttig •

Tageszeitung, 21 January 2020 A long reportage from Afghanistan’s fight against polio (in German), pointing out a number of problems: the hard job of local volunteers, among them women, but also cheating in the reporting on their campaign; a UN official who argues for stopping all funding for the campaign as long as there was […]

21 Jan 2020

Inside the U.S. military’s raid against its own security guards that left dozens [60] of Afghan children dead

USA Today, 1 January 2020 Published on a day where not many people would have read a story about an atrocity in Afghanistan, this story deserves a careful read: about the Americans bombing a village to kill a Taleban commander linked to feuding local commanders who had been hired by a (then) British security company […]

20 Jan 2020

Verhandlungen zwischen USA und Taliban: Abzug aus Afghanistan nah

Thomas Ruttig •

Tageszeitung, 17 January 2020 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig wrote an first analysis about the mounting reports that the signature of the US-Taleban agreement about troop withdrawal and anti-terrorism guarantees might be immanent and that the Taleban have agreed to a temporary ceasefire with the US to facilitate the agreement and offered a ‘reduction of violence’ to […]

17 Jan 2020

Human Rights in the Middle East 2019

AAN • Thomas Ruttig •

The Media Line, 16 January 2020 AAN Country Director Ehsan Qaane is quoted in this article about Human Rights Watch annual report for 2020: “Elimination of violence against women also needs a strong government and an active civil society which are in doubt at present,” Ehsan Qaane, country director and legal and political affairs researcher […]

16 Jan 2020

Afghanistan: aspettando i Talebani, e la pace

AAN • Thomas Ruttig •

ISPI, 15 January 2020 In this 2019 analysis by Giuliano Battiston for the Italian institute, AAN’s Ali Yawar Adili is quoted on his special field of expertise, elections: “Cercava una legittimazione popolare per condurre il negoziato da una posizione di maggiore autorevolezza, ma i risultati elettorali non gli sono favorevoli”, ci spiega il ricercatore Ali […]

15 Jan 2020