Month: June 2021

Ending the Forever War, But Leaving a Legacy of Impunity in Afghanistan

Just Security, 30 June 2021 Guest article by AIHRC chairwoman Shaharzad Akbar: While for Western governments the departure of international troops from Afghanistan represents an end to war, civilians harmed by these incidents live with the often-permanent consequences of lives lost and rights violated to this day. Without committing to concrete actions to address these […]

30 Jun 2021

‘This is the first time I am holding a gun’: Afghans take up arms to fight the Taliban

The World, 30 June 2021 AAN’s Ali Adili is quoted in this report on the public radio’s website, being skeptical about new ‘popular’ and militia arming: Definitely, it’s not a good thing that people are getting mobilized and arming themselves against the Taliban,” said Ali Yawar Adili, researcher with the Afghan[istan] Analysts Network in Kabul. “People are […]

30 Jun 2021

Taliban vor den Städten

Tageszeitung (Berlin), 30 June 2021 With the last German (and Italian, Norwegian and many other) soldiers just having left Afghanistan, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig Deutschland looks at the security situation thy lave behind in the country they were supposed to help stabilise, with a large-scale Taleban offensive in the rural areas and the Afghan government and […]

30 Jun 2021

Toekomst van Afghanen onzeker, maar overname Taliban ‘niet waarschijnlijk’

NOS News (Netherlands), 24 June 2021 AAN’s Ali Yawar Adili quoted on the Dutch public broadcasting website: Niet iedereen is er van overtuigd dat de Afghaanse veiligheidstroepen in hun eentje klaar zijn voor deze gevechten. “Dit heeft bijgedragen aan de re-mobilisatie van lokale milities”, zegt Ali Adili, onderzoeker bij de denktank Afghanistan Analyst[s] Network in […]

24 Jun 2021

Attacked and Vulnerable: Afghan ethnic groups form own armies in response to militant attacks

New York Times/Irish Times, 23 June 2021 A brief quote from recent AAN research by Ali Yawar Adili in this article printed in both nwspapers: “For the first time in 20 years, power brokers are speaking publicly about mobilising armed men,” the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a research group in Kabul, wrote in a June 4th […]

23 Jun 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

Afghanistan – The Third Wave

RTE podcast, 17 June 2021 Listen to a podcast of Irish TV/radio with AAN’s Rohullah Surush: After 20 years of war and over half the country living in poverty, Afghanistan has been hit with a third wave – its worst yet – of Govid-19. Rohullah Sorush of the Afghanistan Analysts’ Network in Kabul is the […]

17 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

Afghanistan: Gefährliche Nachbarschaft

Deutsche Welle, 14 June 2021 This analysis of the power balance in the region around Afghanistan on the website of Germany’s international public broadcaster extensively quotes from an interview with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig (in German).

14 Jun 2021

Taliban zwischen Terror-Strategie und Machtbeteiligung

Deutsche Welle, 11 June 2021 Summary of an interview with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about the Taleban’s post-troop withdrawal strategy on the website of Germany’s international public broadcaster extensively quotes from an (in German).

11 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