Month: February 2020

Frieden für Afghanistan in Sicht: Trotz einwöchiger Feuerpause wollen die Taliban nicht vom „Waffenstillstand“ sprechen.

Tageszeitung, 21 February 2020 A preview on the week of ‘reduction of violence’ in Afghanistan in this op-ed by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig for the Berlin-based daily (in German): Die Waffenruhe ist Teil einer Serie diplomatischer Schritte zur Beendigung des Krieges in Afghanistan. Beide Seiten hatten seit Oktober 2018 in Katars Hauptstadt Doha verhandelt. Dort soll auch das […]

21 Feb 2020

‘Best Shot At Peace’: Explaining The Finer Points Of The U.S.-Taliban Deal

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 21 February 2020 Among other analysts, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in this preview of the US-Taleban troop withdrawal agreement: “The fact that these two issues have been relegated from the U.S.-Taliban talks — because the Taliban did not agree to them — to the new set of negotiations indicates that […]

21 Feb 2020

Kabul’s Expanding Crime Scene (Part 2): Criminal activities and the police response

Fabrizio Foschini •

In the second part of his reporting on Kabul’s crime scene, AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini deals with the characteristics of the current spike in criminality, in particular detailing the most frequent types of offences and their impact on the lives of the population. He tries to assess the difficult task of the police force in curbing […]

21 Feb 2020

Afghanistan: Usa e Talebani cercano la pace, al via la tregua

ISPI online, 21 February 2020 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted on the lack of information on how the ‘reduction of violence’ week in Afghanistan will be verified in this analysis by the Italian Institute of International Studies:  I metodi per verificare il rispetto dell’accordo di tregua ci sono, ha notato Thomas Ruttig dell’Afghanistan Analysts Network, ma […]

21 Feb 2020

Vertreter der Zivilgesellschaft: Das Land braucht Einheit und Zusammenhalt

Fides, 21 February 2020 AAN research by Thomas Ruttig is quoted in this article by the German service of the news agency of the Papal mission service: Die Stimmen für Ghani repräsentieren 9,6% der wahlberechtigten Bürger, so Thomas Ruttig vom „Afghanistan Analysts Network“, während Abdullah 7,5% auf sich vereint. Doch jeder der beiden Kandidaten, behauptet […]

21 Feb 2020

Taliban Officials Expect To Sign Deal With U.S. By The End Of The Month February 20, 2020

National Public Radio, 20 February 2020 A small cameo of AAN’s Thomas Ruttig in this programme about the forthcoming US-Taliban deal and intra-Afghan peace negotiations: QUESTION: … If the negotiations fail, Afghanistan will remain at war with itself. THOMAS RUTTIG: This is what is at stake because it has been tried for 18 years to […]

20 Feb 2020

The Guardian: [T]he children and slaves [including from Afghanistan] mining Pakistan’s coal

The Guardian, 19 February 2020 An excellent reportage from Pakistan’s coal mines where Afghan miners make up around 50% of the workforce, toiling in “one of the world’s harshest work environments”: The story of the coal miners of Balochistan is one of debt bondage and human rights abuses [including sexual abuse of children], an absence […]

19 Feb 2020

Afganistan (asi) dostal šancu na mier

Pravda, 19 February 2020 Quotes from AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about Afghanistan inching toward a US-Taleban deal and intra-Afghan piece talks (in Slovakian): “Áno, po mnohých rokoch je to najlepšia šanca. Koncom roka 2001 Taliban v podstate písomne ponúkol svoju kapituláciu afganskému lídrovi Hámidovi Karzajovi. USA to prostredníctvom ministra obrany Donalda Rumsfelda odmietli. Terajšia šanca prišla iba preto, lebo […]

19 Feb 2020

Afghanistan’s 2019 Elections (30): Final results… and parallel governments?

Thomas Ruttig •

Afghanistan’s 28 September 2019 presidential election has finally meandered to what may be its end after almost five months, with the Independent Election Commission (IEC) declaring incumbent Ashraf Ghani the first-round winner. However, the result is too narrow and disputed, and the manner of dealing with complaints not transparent enough to quash doubts in his […]

19 Feb 2020

‘All Bets Off’: Afghanistan Plunges Into Crisis After Losing Presidential Candidate Alleges ‘Coup’

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 18 February 2020 AAN’s AlI Adili is quoted in this article, looking at the situation in Afghanistan after both Ghani and Abdullah claimed the presidency: Ali Adili, a researcher at the Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent think tank in Kabul, said he envisioned two scenarios: Ghani could “suppress Abdullah’s faction, which […]

18 Feb 2020

AAN Dossier XXV: The Quest for Peace in Afghanistan, 2015 to 2020

AAN Team •

Any day now, a first diplomatic breakthrough toward peace in Afghanistan is expected: the United States and the Taleban have both announced that they have finalised their negotiations which would exchange withdrawal of the US and other NATO troops from the country for anti-terrorism guarantees from the Taleban. These negotiations started in October 2018 in […]

18 Feb 2020

Afghanischer Präsident Ghani wiedergewählt: Gegner ruft Gegenregierung aus

n-tv, 18 February 2020 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in this article on the German news channel’s website about the publication of the final – but disputed – result of the September 2019 Afghan presidential election: Thomas Ruttig von der Kabuler Denkfabrik Afghanistan Analysts Network sagt, eine Wahlbeteiligung von knapp über 15 Prozent sei “nicht […]

18 Feb 2020