Month: January 2023

Wrestling with a Humanitarian Dilemma in Afghanistan

USIP, 25 January 2023 Former World Bank Afghanistan specialist Bill Byrd looks at one the current mot important policy matters: how to deal with the Taleban’s rejection to listen to any advice and keep lives-saving humanitarian work afloat in the middle of what he calls “an economic crisis for the entire country, one likely to […]

31 Jan 2023

Frauenrechte in Afghanistan: Kein Zutritt für Studentinnen

taz, 30 January 2023 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig reports about the latest Taleban ban for Afghan female students, blocking them from all university entry exams (in German).

30 Jan 2023

Transcript of remarks by UNOCHA head Martin Griffiths

United Nations, 30 January 2023 Here the UNOCHA-distributed transcript of remarks by UNOCHA head Martin Griffiths, in which he admits that the UN has been continuing to carry out some humanitarian programmes after the Taleban’s ban for female NGO workers only employing men, which drew criticism from some NGOs and media.

30 Jan 2023

Wieder im Geschäft: China investiert im Afghanistan der Taliban – auch aus politischen Gründen

Jungle World, 26 January 2023 Op-ed by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig for the Berlin-based weekly newspaper on the context of China’s January 2023 oil deal with the Taleban (in German).

26 Jan 2023

The Daily Hustle: How Afghan women working for NGOs are coping with the Taleban ban

Roxanna Shapour •

Afghan women who were studying at university or working for NGOs have now had a few weeks to take in the implications of two decrees issued by Taleban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada which denied them a university education and banned them from working for NGOs. The announcements had come as successive blows to women who had […]

26 Jan 2023

Afghanistan Economic Monitor

World Bank, 25 January 2023 Afghanistan’s economy had a “positive” period in the last nine months of 2022, with reduced inflation, strong revenue collection, growing exports but still a trade deficit. The country’s currency remained stable against major currencies. Civil servants’ salaries are reported to be paid on time for both men and women.

25 Jan 2023

Afghanistan: Zäher Dialog mit den Taliban

Deutsche Welle, 21 January 2023 Extensive quotes of AAN’s Thomas Ruttig at the website of Germany’s foreign broadcaster on who has how much leverage, if at all, on the Taleban leadership (originally in German): It is necessary to talk to the Taliban, says Thomas Ruttig, co-founder of the independent think tank Afghanistan Analysts Network. Precisely […]

21 Jan 2023

A Needs Assessment of Afghan Human Rights Defenders

Freedom House, 19 January 2023 Human rights defenders in Afghanistan and those who have fled the country face ongoing threats including arbitrary arrest, kidnapping, torture, imprisonment, and violence against family members. 90 percent of Afghan human rights defenders in Afghanistan have been subjected to such violence or threats under the Taliban’s repressive rule. This is the result of […]

19 Jan 2023

What We Were Writing, What You Were Reading in 2022: Reports about economic struggle and loss of rights

Kate Clark •

2022 was the year in which the new reality of Islamic Emirate rule bedded down, following the precipitous collapse of the Islamic Republic in 2021. In that year, our reports and, even more so, the attention of our readers was dominated by trying to make sense of the war, the change of regime and failure […]

17 Jan 2023

Die mächtigsten Männer der Taliban:„Auch die Pragmatiker sind Fundamentalisten“

Tagesspiegel, 15 January 2023 This article discussing the Taleban’s internal workings and reported ‘power struggle’ (in German), quotes AAN’s Thomas Ruttig: Ruttig says: “The word power struggle dramatizes the situation far too much and arouses false hopes.” Even if there are certainly “arguments and conflicts”. Ruttig sees one thing above all in the Western hope […]

15 Jan 2023

Ground Zero: The Evacuation of the CIA’s Afghan Proxies Has Opened One of the War’s Blackest Boxes

The Intercept, 20 November 2022 Former BBC journalist Fahim Abed tackles a hot subject (regularly reported on by AAN, too), the role of CIA-led Afghan militias and commando forces, the so-called zero units, now evacuated to the US, regardless of (very plausible) allegations of severe human violations, if not war crimes – “celebrated as heroes […]

11 Jan 2023

Resistance to the Taliban: Current status and prospects for the future

Observer Research Foundation, 10 January 2023 This short online analysis (indirectly) quotes AAN’s Kate Clark on the prospects of the armed anti-Taleban resistance in Afghanistan: According to Kate Clark, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent research organisation based in Kabul, while the resistance is historically not that strong, the Taliban itself took years […]

10 Jan 2023