Month: July 2020

AAN wishes a peaceful and healthy Eid al-Adha to all its readers

AAN Team •

At a difficult and uncertain time for growing numbers of people in Afghanistan, there is at last some good news: the Taleban and government have again declared a third three-day ceasefire to mark the major Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha. We acknowledge that many people who have continued to bear the brunt of this brutal […]

31 Jul 2020

Hoffen zum Opferfest

Süddeutsche Zeitung, 29 July 2020 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in this article looking at ptospects for Afghan peace and the announcement of new, three-day ceasefires by the Afghan government and the Taleban, arguing against the widespread assumption that the Taleban do not want to negotiate. He says that they speculate on a breakdown in […]

29 Jul 2020

As Intra-Afghan Talks Loom, Taliban Hark To 1990s Regime

Gandhara, 29 July 2020 AAN’s Ali Yawar Adeli is quoted in this article on RFE/RL’s blog as saying: The question, however, is whether any middle ground between the two sides can be found. Ali Yavar Adeli, an expert at the Afghanistan Analysts Network, says an agreement can only come from a sustained discourse built upon […]

29 Jul 2020

Islamisches Opferfest: Taliban verkünden dreitägige Waffenruhe

dpa/Frankfurter Allgemeine, 28 July 2020 This article, reporting the Taleban announcement of a three-day ceasefire over Eid ul-Azha, quotes AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about current status of the conflict and ongoing Taleban violence: Thomas Ruttig von der Kabuler Denkfabrik Afghanistan Analysts Network sagte: „Die Taliban befinden sich vor allem wegen der Ungeduld Trumps, die US-Truppen abzuziehen, […]

28 Jul 2020

What the heroin industry can teach us about solar power

BBC, 27 July 2020 An astounding report about solar power as a transformative technology, in the toughest environment possible, with no subsidies, no considering of climate change – just about small-scale entrepreneurs trying to make a profit: Afghan opium growers in Helmand. “For an upfront payment of $5,000 [farmers] can buy an array of solar […]

27 Jul 2020

Russian Moves in Afghanistan Are About Regional Stability, Not Revenge on US

Russia Matters, 22 July 2020 An excellent analysis Artemy M. Kalinovsky, professor of Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet studies at Temple University, of Russia’s interests in Afghanistan in the context of allegations of Russian bounty paying to Taleban to kill US soldiers. By 2016, Russian officials seem to have decided that there was little chance of the U.S. […]

22 Jul 2020

Covid-19 in Afghanistan (5): Snapshots of women’s living under coronavirus in and around Herat city

S Reza Kazemi •

In Herat, Afghanistan’s second most-infected province, women have been disproportionately hit by the secondary effects of Covid-19. AAN researcher Reza Kazemi has been hearing from women in the province about extra care and housework, increased levels of domestic violence, greater restrictions on movement and their concerns about their children, given school closures. He also finds […]

22 Jul 2020

A threat at Kabul’s southern gate: a security overview of Logar province

Ariana News, 18 July 2020 The Kabul-based news agency summarised and linked to the latest AAN report about Logar by Ali Muhammad Sabawoon and Thomas Ruttig.

18 Jul 2020

A Threat at Kabul’s Southern Gate: A security overview of Logar province

Thomas Ruttig • Ali Mohammad Sabawoon •

Logar – a strategic province at the southern gate of the capital Kabul – has been among Afghanistan’s most insecure provinces for years. The government only controls parts of three of its seven districts, in some cases not much more than (parts of) the district centre. This provides the Taleban positions closer to the capital […]

18 Jul 2020

Afghan Warlord’s Promotion Highlights the Bankruptcy of America’s Longest War

Foreign Policy, 17 July 2020 This article by Emran feroz looks at the outrage about Afghan warlord (and ex-Vice President) Rashid Dostum to the honorary rank of ‘marshal’. AAN#s Thomas Ruttig is quoted here, among others, as saying: “There is not the slightest doubt that Dostum has committed war crimes and had former or current […]

17 Jul 2020

Within the [Kunar] Taliban, clashing views of Afghanistan’s future

Washington Post, 13 July 2020 A very lively reportage from Kunar’s Taleban-controlled and empoverished Marawara district (which the LWJ map counts as ‘contested’). The access was facilitated by the Taleban. Projects a picture of Taleban commanders and fighters going for 100 per cent victory and the abolishment of the Ghani government. Which is not surprising, […]

13 Jul 2020

When did Afghan Cinema Begin? A History of Kabul’s Filmic Pasts

Ajam Media Collective, 12 July 2020 Author Chihab El Khachab at the University of Oxford has been digging deeper and deeper: On 27 August 1970, The Kabul Times announced that the “First Afghan Film Feature Premiered in Kabul Nandarey”, called Rozgārān. But the history of Afghanistan’s own film production goes further back, as this article shows. There […]

12 Jul 2020