Month: October 2020

En Afghanistan, les talibans font monter la pression

La Croix, 27 October 2020 The French daily quotes AAN’s Thomas Ruttig bout one of the hurdles for progress in the intra-Afghan talks in Doha: « Ni le gouvernement afghan ni les talibans ne veulent reconnaître la partie adverse », explique Thomas Ruttig, codirecteur de l’Afghanistan Analysts Network. « C’est pour cela que les talibans […]

29 Oct 2020

Behind the Statistics: Drop in civilian casualties masks increased Taleban violence

Kate Clark •

Six weeks after intra-Afghan talks began in Doha, the Taleban and government teams are still arguing about protocol and what should be on the agenda. Meanwhile, UNAMA’s third quarterly report in 2020 on the protection of civilians in the conflict, published today, shows that, since the talks began, civilian casualties caused by the two parties […]

27 Oct 2020

Afghanistan Is Not Doomed to Repeat Its Past

Foreign Policy, 26 October 2020 Barnett Rubin analyses lessons from the 1988 Geneva Accords (about the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan) and the 2011 Bonn Agreement, in order to avoid a breakdown like in 1992. As key conclusions he recommends to modify and the 2004 constitution for the transition that is supposed to result from the […]

26 Oct 2020

Global Peace Index 2020

Institute for Economics & Peace, October 2020 Afghanistan is the least peaceful country in the world for the second year in a row, followed by Syria, Iraq, South Sudan and Yemen. Afghanistan is one of the few countries where the number of deaths has not decreased over the past few years, with the scope and […]

25 Oct 2020

Afghanistan, strage di donne allo stadio e di ragazzini nella moschea

Il Manifesto, 23 October 2020 The Italian left-wing daily quotes from a recent AAN report by guest author Andrew Quilty: DA FEBBRAIO IL CONFLITTO è cambiato. Gli americani e i Talebani non si fanno più la guerra, se non in circostanze particolari, comenei giorni scorsi nella provincia meridionale dell’Helmand, quando gli aerei statunitensi sono intervenuti per […]

23 Oct 2020

Fleeing the Taliban in the night, a family’s faith in peace wavers

Christian Science Monitor, 23 October 2020 The US news outlet quotes from Andrew Quilty’s recent report for AAN as a background to this story, that the U.S.-Taliban deal changed the pattern of conflict in favor of the insurgents, such that “the Taliban have little incentive to reduce violence,” according to an in-depth report last week […]

23 Oct 2020

Afghanistan’s War Victims Demand ‘A Just Peace’ With The Taliban

RFE/RL Gandhara, 20 October 2020 AAN’s Ehsan Qaane is quoted about contradictory positions in the Afghan government vis-à-vis victims’ representation in the Doha peace talks and, more generally, its approach to dealing with earlier war crimes (he had earlier reported about this at AAN): Despite the president’s remarks, there is a glimmer of hope, says […]

21 Oct 2020

‘No one bothered’: Afghan mother waits for son held in Guantanamo

AFP/al-Jazeera, 19 October 2020 AAN’s Kate Clark is quoted in this article looking at one of the last Afghan detainees in Guantánamo (via AFP): Kate Clark, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a leading research group on the country, said Haroon was no significant terrorist figure. The allegations against Haroon, initially kept secret until revealed […]

19 Oct 2020

Konfliktporträt Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 29 September 2020 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig has been writing a ‘conflict portrait’ of Afghanistan for the website of the German Federal Centre for Political Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, bpb) for several years now. the bpb is a major source for teachers and school students. Here is the latest version, update […]

19 Oct 2020

Living with the Taleban (1): Local experiences in Andar district, Ghazni province

Sahil Afghan •

Today, we publish the first of three studies exploring how the Taleban rule, and the impact of that rule on residents. Given that the talks in Doha may presage an Afghan state with key positions held by the Taleban or that, at the very least, the pattern of the Taleban controlling particular localities will continue, understanding […]

19 Oct 2020

The Intra-Afghan Peace Talks: Warring parties negotiate, victims of war are excluded

Ehsan Qaane •

A clear divide has emerged in the Afghan government on the role of war victims in the peace process. In a surprising move, President Ashraf Ghani recently suggested that Afghanistan should follow the Spanish model – better known as the ‘pact of forgetting’. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Peace and members of the Afghan negotiating team […]

16 Oct 2020

National Victim-Centred Network’s resolution on war victims’ rights

Presented on 14 September 2020, as a result of the Conference of War Victims’ families and relatives on the start of Intra-Afghan Peace Talks “The entire peace process must be victim-centered, just and aimed at healing the wounds of victims of war and avoiding future recurrence of violence and crime.” Resolution Conference of War Victims’ families and relatives on the start of Intra-Afghan […]

16 Oct 2020