Month: June 2021

“A Future of One’s Own”: One young woman’s struggle to thrive in modern Herat

S Reza Kazemi •

At a time when the future of Afghanistan as a state and society is deeply uncertain, we bring to you an in-depth case study of the life choices of one university graduate who has grown up on the outskirts of the country’s northwestern city of Herat. Following Roya (pseudonym), her family and a group of […]

21 Jun 2021

AAN Dossier XXVIII: Afghanistan in the Covid-19 Crisis

AAN Team •

Afghanistan has just entered the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic amid an unprecedented rise in confirmed cases, relatively unprepared. Apparently due to the relatively modest numbers during the second wave in November 2020, many Afghans became complacent about following health protocols and taking preventive measures. Complacency seems to have also been a factor in […]

17 Jun 2021

How to Investigate War Crimes? Kabul tells the ICC it is dealing with them, while the AIHRC pleads for help from the UN

Ehsan Qaane •

The saga of the stalled International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into war crimes allegedly committed as part of the Afghan war continues. Following a high-level meeting in The Hague last month, the Afghan government is still dancing around the issue, as it reacts to competing pressure from the ICC, the United States (which does not […]

15 Jun 2021

The Amazing Rise And Fall Of Century-Old Afghan Box Cameras

RFE/RL, 15 May 2021 Ron Synowitz’s must-read about a rapidly disappearing trade in Afghanistan: “Now, with photography digitized, the karma-e-faoree has disappeared” and also spare parts and the right type of photo paper are nowhere to be found anymore. An edict in the 1950s by Afghanistan’s king, Zahir Shah, to introduce a black-and-white photo ID […]

14 Jun 2021

Covid-19 in Afghanistan (9): Into the third wave

Thomas Ruttig • Rohullah Sorush •

Afghanistan has entered the third wave of the Coronavirus pandemic amid an unprecedented rise in confirmed cases. Doctors in various provinces detected signs of the impending new wave soon after the start of the Afghan new year (21 March), but the government only imposed contact restrictions on 28 May and enlisted religious scholars to urge […]

11 Jun 2021

Impending closure of US base at Bagram spurs Afghan army recruiting to hold the airfield

Stars and Stripes, 7 June 2021 U.S. and NATO forces are expected to hand over Bagram Airfield to the Afghan military in about 20 days, or by the end of this month. Local officials have also been told to help the military find recruits to defend Bagram, he said. The base’s transition to the Afghan military […]

7 Jun 2021

Preparing for a Post-Departure Afghanistan: Changing political dynamics in the wake of the US troop withdrawal announcement

Ali Yawar Adili •

It is six weeks since US President Joe Biden announced that all international troops would be withdrawn by September and the reverberations of that announcement are still being felt in Afghan political and security circles. The government has been bullish in public, claiming the country is ready for the departure of the foreign forces. Yet, […]

4 Jun 2021

Unvorbereitet in die dritte Welle: Afghanistan kämpft in der Coronapandemie

Tageszeitung, 1 June 2021 Op-ed by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, Rohullah Sorush and Reza Kazemi in the Berlin-based daily about the outbreak of the third Covid-19 wave in Afghanistan (in German).

1 Jun 2021