Month: April 2021

Nach 40 Jahren Krieg: Frieden für Afghanistan mit deutscher Hilfe?

Tagesspiegel, 12 April 2021 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in the Berlin-based daily about possible international leverage vis-a-vis the Taleban after an eventual peace deal (in German), in an article about the role of the German Berghof Foundation in the Doha peace talks: Auch Thomas Ruttig, Co-Direktor desAfghanistan AnalystNetwork, weist darauf hin, dass rund zwei […]

12 Apr 2021

Zerstörtes Land, zerstörte Leben : „Ich wäre so gerne mit ihnen gestorben“

Tagesspiegel, 11 April 2021 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in this article telling the stories of families of victims of the latest wave of assassinations in Kabul, on the reasons for the escalation of violence and the return of the Taleban (in German, behind a paywall): „Afghanistan war damals eine Wiederaufbau-Aufgabe“, sagt Thomas Ruttig. Der […]

11 Apr 2021

Afghan Cities Become Key Battlegrounds

War on the Rocks (blog), 9 April 2021 This piece by Ashley Jackson and Antonio Sampaio is particularly interesting for the abundance of data compiled on the growth of Afghanistan’s urban centres. Meanwhile, their statement about a “growing consensus that the Taliban is behind many, if not the majority” of the recent assassinations in the cities lacks the […]

9 Apr 2021

Newly-appointed governor promises to curb Taliban’s growing power in Ghor

Kabul Now, 9 April 2021 A summary of the dire security situation in one of Afghanistan’s most volatile provinces, Ghor. The Taleban attacked three district centres over the last few weeks,, local authorities say, and have been besieging two others for three years now. Meanwhile, a civil society activist says“The government and security officials lie […]

9 Apr 2021

An Endgame in the Endless War

Slate, 5 April 2021 Two quotes from AAN’s Thomas Ruttig in this analysis by the US magazine of the The Biden administration’s search “for a way to get out—and stay out—of Afghanistan.” The first one on US co-responsibility for the current situation (ongoing and escalated war, not peace; high poverty levels instead of successful reconstruction) […]

5 Apr 2021

Strangers in a Homeland: one man works to help Afghan migrants return to a place they never knew

Vanity Fair, Spring 2021 Experienced Afghanistan reporter May Jeong’s reportage about two Afghans, one deported with his family, one ‘voluntarily’ returned, and Abdul Ghafoor, the one man who helps people like them in Kabul, and his small organisation AMASO. With some sobering information: In 2017, when the International Organization for Migration, an intergovernmental body associated […]

2 Apr 2021

A Troika of Four: Looking back at the March 2021 Afghanistan meeting in Moscow

Thomas Ruttig •

The ‘extended troika’ meeting in Moscow on 18 March did not spark a significant new impulse in the search for peace in Afghanistan. Instead, it followed a well-known pattern. Foreign powers offered platitudes about an ‘Afghan-led, Afghan-owned’ peace process, again, while they insist on setting the timeline themselves and handpick those who are to be […]

2 Apr 2021

Mild winter in Afghanistan threatens staple potato crop

The Third Pole, 1 April 2021 Reportage from Bamian, the province providing half of Afghanistan’s needs for potatoes, but being hit this winter by an approximate drop by 65% in precipitation compared with normal years: There are now concerns around water scarcity this year, as snowmelt is an important source of water for crops and […]

1 Apr 2021

Conditions-based Interim Government: President Ghani presents a preview of his peace plan

Thomas Ruttig •

President Ashraf Ghani has raised the curtain on his peace plan and agreed to the formation of an interim government in Afghanistan. Ghani summarised his plan in a speech at the 9th Ministerial Conference of the Heart of Asia/Istanbul Process – a gathering of regional and other states on security and cooperation in Central Asia […]

1 Apr 2021