Month: September 2021

The Focus of the Taleban’s New Government: Internal cohesion, external dominance

Martine van Bijlert •

As the twentieth anniversary of al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks that brought the US to Afghanistan to topple the Taleban’s emirate came round, it was the Taleban who were back in power. This week, they announced their new interim administration. It is all-male, almost all-Pashtun, almost all clerical and all-Taleban. Set alongside their sustained military campaign in […]

12 Sep 2021

How mass killings by US forces after 9/11 boosted support for the Taliban

The Guardian, 10 September 2021 In this article looking back at how US troops’ mass killings boosted Taleban support in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, AAN’s Kate Clark is quoted with the following assessment: “The insurgency was not inevitable. There was a good chance for peace in 2001. Everyone, including the […]

10 Sep 2021

Afghanistan: Can social gains of last 20 years survive Taliban rule?

Christian Science Monitor, 10 September 2021 This article quotes AAN research on pre-2001 Taleban governance: Indeed, the Taliban “showed little interest in running public services,” either during their rule from 1996 to 2001, or in areas under their control since then, according to a report this week by the Kabul-based Afghanistan Analysts Network. “It is […]

10 Sep 2021

Taliban in Afghanistan: Pakistans Doppelrolle

ARD-Tagesschau, 9 September 2021 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig comment on the visit of the ISI chief in now Taleban-controlled Kabul, seeing it as a gesture of new Pakistani influence, after decades denying their support for them (in German): Der Besuch der Pakistaner in Kabul ist für Thomas Ruttig vom Afghanistan Analysts Network alles andere als ein […]

9 Sep 2021

Mohammad Hassan Akhund Is to Lead Afghanistan’s Government. Here’s What to Know about the Taliban’s New Prime Minister

Time, 9 September 2021 This portrait of new Taleban ‘Prime Minister’ Mullah Hassan quotes AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, looking back at his tenure with the UN under the first Taleban regime: He also comments on the current Taleban moof vis-a-vis the international community and the new Taleban government: According to Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the research […]

9 Sep 2021

Germany takes lead as EU navigates how to engage with Taliban regime

Financial Times, 8 September 2021 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted on a possible working relationship between donor countris and the new Taleban regime: Thomas Ruttig, of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent research organisation, said that establishing a working relationship with the Taliban was vital to deliver humanitarian assistance and stave off a collapse in […]

8 Sep 2021

All-male, all-Taliban: Afghanistan’s new government leaves U.S. ‘concerned’

NBC, 8 September 2021 AAN’s Kate Clark comments on the new Taleban cabinet in this analysis: A State Department spokesperson said it had noted the lack of inclusivity, but Kate Clark, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a policy research organization based in Kabul,said it was not surprising. “The Taliban never gave any hint that […]

8 Sep 2021

The evolving Taliban-ISK rivalry

The Interpreter, 7 September 2021 In this entry into the Australian Lowy Institut’s blog, AAN research in referenced: Since ISK’s inception in 2015, we along with researchers at the Afghanistan Analysts Network have tracked such defections across provinces throughout Afghanistan. In most cases, decisive Taliban clamp downs, US and/or Afghan allied operations, or some combination of the two quickly routed […]

7 Sep 2021

Afghanistan’s health system close to collapse following Taliban takeover, its health minister warns

The Telegraph, 7 September 2021 This article quotes a recent AAN report: “Negotiations between actors who have been hostile for years – the Taliban and the donor governments – will mean navigating a legal, practical and ethical minefield,” said a recent report by the Afghanistan Analysts Network. “Both sides will need to ask themselves: What […]

7 Sep 2021

Afghanistan’s looming economic catastrophe: What next for the Taleban and the donors?

Hannah Duncan • Kate Clark •

When the Taleban captured Kabul, it ruptured Afghanistan’s relationship with the international community. The problems now facing its aid-dependent economy and new Taleban rulers are rapidly piling up. Adding to the damage already wrought by conflict, pandemic and drought, foreign aid is now suspended and in doubt, the treasury is empty and foreign reserves held […]

6 Sep 2021

The Other Afghan Women

The New Yorker, 6 September 2021 Anand Gopal’s look at one of the hidden sides of th Afghan conflict: In the countryside, the endless killing of civilians turned women against the occupiers who claimed to be helping them.

6 Sep 2021

Taliban hides female students behind curtain as others flee universities in fear

Daily Star, 6 September 2021 AAN’s Ali Yawar Adili is quoted in this report from Kabul’s Ibn-e Sina University: Ali Adili, a researcher with Afghanistan Analysts Network, said it used to be one of the “liveliest private universities”.

6 Sep 2021