Month: June 2020

“You Have No Right to Complain”: Education, Social Restrictions, and Justice in Taliban-Held Afghanistan

Human Rights Watch, 30 June 2020 The latest Afghanistan report of the human rights organisations, based on interviews, looks at the practice on the following topics in Taleban-controlled areas: education for girls and women, freedom of expression and social restrictions, detention and punishment for government contacts, and criticism of the Taleban. From the summary: The […]

30 Jun 2020

UN Reports Decrease in Opium Production in Afghanistan

Tolonews, 26 June 2020 This news item is largely based on an AAN analysis of the Afghanistan part of the recent World Drug Report released by the United Nations Drugs and Crime Office’s (UNODC).

26 Jun 2020

New World Drug Report: Opium production in Afghanistan remained the same in 2019

Jelena Bjelica •

The United Nations Drugs and Crime Office’s (UNODC) World Drug Report, released today, shows a decrease in the cultivation of opium in Afghanistan in 2019 following price falls after the bumper years in 2017 and 2018. However, in 2019 when weather conditions were optimal for growing poppy and plant disease absent, yields were high. Overall, that meant […]

25 Jun 2020

Afghanistan’s missing coronavirus patients: Women

The New Humanitarian, 24 June 2020 High coronavirus infection rates among health workers – and lopsidedly low numbers among women – are raising fears that Afghan women are missing out on healthcare while their exposure to the virus goes undetected.

24 Jun 2020

Covid-19 in Afghanistan (4): A precarious interplay between war and epidemic

S Reza Kazemi • Fazl Rahman Muzhary •

Afghans are now being killed by both the continuing war and Covid-19. The epidemic has ground much of life to a halt – with the notable exception of the fighting. In this report, AAN researchers Reza Kazemi and Fazal Muzhary (with input from Kate Clark) look at the interplay between war and disease. They provide […]

19 Jun 2020

Afghan Anti-Corruption Efforts ‘Slowed’ Due To Elections, COVID-19

dpa/RFERL, 18 June 2020 The leading German press agency quotes an analysis by AAN’s Jelena Bjelica of UNAMA’s latest Afghanistan (anti-)corruption report that found a slowdown in the fight against corruption: Analyst Jelena Bjelica from the Kabul-based think tank Afghanistan Analysts Network sees a shift in the political priorities as a reason for the slowdown. […]

18 Jun 2020

(Kein) Krieg in Afghanistan? Die Verschleierungstaktik der NATO

ARD, 18 June 2020 In this report by the “Monitor” political magazine on Germany’s main public TV broadcaster, covering growing US/NATO (and Afghan government) intransparency on the Afghan war, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted twice: on the importance of the SIGAR reports and on the purpose behind the intransparency in the US: to hide from […]

18 Jun 2020

UNAMA’s New Report on Anti-corruption: More backsliding from government and growing frustration from donors

Jelena Bjelica •

The annual UNAMA anti-corruption report released today shows that the institutional fight against graft in Afghanistan between January 2019 and April 2020 has stalled in many areas. While the report acknowledges that the reform agenda has been overshadowed by the presidential elections and the pandemic, it does not hold back from pointing to failures in […]

18 Jun 2020

Both Medicine and Poison: The Paradox of Support to Afghanistan

Tolo News, 13 June 2020 Op-ed by AAN’s Kate Clark on the website of the popular Afghan TV channel and news website, based on her recent AAN Special Report “The Cost of Support to Afghanistan: Considering inequality, poverty and lack of democracy through the ‘rentier state’ lens.”

13 Jun 2020

Between Professionalism and Accommodation: The slow progress on the new cabinet

Ali Yawar Adili • Thomas Ruttig •

More than three months after the inauguration of President Ashraf Ghani, a cabinet has not yet been formed. The appointments were delayed and disrupted by the dispute about the election outcome and the ensuing standoff, which had beset the country for more than two months. However, almost a month after the impasse was resolved, Ghani […]

13 Jun 2020

In Afghanistan, the Islamic State Threatens Long-Term Peace

Foreign Policy, 4 June 2020 In this article by Emran Feroz, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted on the relationship between IS ‘Central’ and its Afghan branch, ISKP: But while ISKP’s parent organization is largely known in much detail, its Afghan branch remains mysterious since its first appearance in 2015. In a further perplexing twist, it […]

4 Jun 2020

Bourgeois Jihad: Why Young, Middle-Class Afghans Join the Islamic State

USIP, 1 June 2020 Our former colleague Borhan Osman’s latest report.

1 Jun 2020