Month: August 2020

Doors Opened for Direct Talks with the Taleban: The results of the Loya Jirga on prisoners and peace

Thomas Ruttig • Ali Yawar Adili • Obaid Ali •

The three-day Consultative Peace Loya Jirga held in Kabul from 17-19 Asad 1399 (7-9 August 2020) has opened the way for the Afghan government to release a final 400 Taleban prisoners from government jails, thereby removing the last obstacle blocking direct peace talks with the Taleban. The jirga delegates did not question the stark choice the government […]

12 Aug 2020

Taking Stock of the Taliban’s Perspectives on Peace

International Crisis Group, 11 August 2020 An important primer for the upcoming intra-Afghan peace negotiations. From the executive summary: As peace talks in Afghanistan unfold, the Taliban’s positions on a number of critical topics to be discussed with the Afghan government remain ambiguous or undefined. (…) It is vital for the talks’ eventual success that […]

11 Aug 2020

Thomas Ruttig über die Loja Dschirga in Afghanistan: Frieden ohne Rechte?

Tageszeitung, 11 August 2020 Op-ed commentary by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about the ‘Consultative’ Peace Loya Jirga in Afghanistan for the Berlin-based daily (in German), saying that the way the jirga was organised dos not represent popular inclusion and consensus building but top-down government imposition of its own position and that the jirga’s resolution which failed […]

11 Aug 2020

The Taliban Say They Have No Foreign Fighters. Is That True?

The Diplomat, 10 August 2020 Swiss freelancer Franz J Marty looks at claims of the Taleban that they do not have foreign fighters with them and counterclaims by Afghan authorities that there are many. He finds that there is “overwhelming evidence of the presence of at least some foreign fighters in Afghanistan that are in contact […]

10 Aug 2020

Freilassung von 400 Taliban: Frieden für Afghanistan – Fesseln für die Frauen?

SRF, 10 August 2020 Listen to an audio of an interview with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig (in German) on Swiss public radio on the forthcoming intra-Afghan peace talks.

10 Aug 2020

To Release, Or Not To Release? Legal questions around Ghani’s consultative loya jirga on Taleban prisoners

Ehsan Qaane •

The Consultative Loya Jirga, called by President Ashraf Ghani to decide the fate of 400 Taleban prisoners, and whether they should be released to enable intra-Afghan peace talks, has begun. Ghani has argued that, according to the constitution and the penal code, it was not in his power to release these prisoners and therefore he […]

7 Aug 2020

Im Osten Afghanistans hat die Terrormiliz IS ein Gefängnis angegriffen

SRF Podcast, 5 August 2020 Listen to an interview with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig (in German) about the IS attack on a jail in Jalalabad and background on the group, here as third part of this episode on Swiss Radio’s 4×4 podcast.

5 Aug 2020

Still Preoccupied by ‘Who Gets What’: 100 days of the new government, but no full cabinet

Ali Yawar Adili •

 More than two and half months since Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah signed their political agreement, and almost five months since the inauguration of Ashraf Ghani as president, Afghanistan still has no new cabinet. The list of cabinet nominees remains incomplete and parliament, which has to vote to confirm or reject nominees, has given up […]

5 Aug 2020

Afghanistans Warlords kehren zurück

Die Presse, 4 August 2020 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in this article in the leading Austrian daily, on the promotion of Gen Dostum to ‘marshal’ (in German): „Es gibt überhaupt keinen Zweifel daran, dass Dostum Kriegsverbrechen begangen hat. Unter den Warlords, die in den 1990er-Jahren aktiv waren, wird er immer als besonders schlimm betrachtet. […]

4 Aug 2020

Häftlinge in Afghanistan befreit: IS-Angriff auf Gefängnis

Tageszeitung, 4 August 2020 Op-ed by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig (in German) about the IS storm of the Jalalabad jail and background about IS’s role and (diminished) strength in Afghanistan.

4 Aug 2020

IS-Kämpfer stürmen Gefängnis in Afghanistan

dpa/Die Welt, 3 August 2020 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in this report by the German press agency dpa as saying that he doubts that the IS prison attack in Jalalabad was a reprisal for the killing of a leading ISKP intelligence leader and that the attack signifies hat reports about ISKP being crushed were […]

4 Aug 2020

Frieden in Afghanistan: Dämpfer statt Durchbruch

Tageszeitung, 1/2 August 2020 An op-ed by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig op-ed in the Berlin-based daily, looking at latest hopes and hurdles for Afghan peace talks, with a 3-day ceasefire over the Islamic holidays of Id al-Azha and announcements of both after parties to the war that tey were finalising a prisoners exchange which was designed […]

1 Aug 2020