Month: March 2023

Trübes neues Schuljahr: Taliban halten an Bildungsverboten für Mädchen und Frauen fest

tageszeitung, 22 March 2023 Op-ed article by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig in the Berlin-based newspaper looking at the start of the Afghan new school and academic year which did not bring any easing of the Taleban bans on female university and girls’ secondary school attendance. Also Nowruz, as a public festival, was curbed for the second […]

22 Mar 2023

The UNAMA mandate and the UNOCHA Humanitarian Response Plan on Afghanistan

Cosmopolis, 21 March 2023 This online magazine re-worked this recent AAN report into an article of their own.

21 Mar 2023

Simple Pleasures Amidst Great Frustrations: An essentially outlawed Nawruz in Taleban-ruled Afghanistan

S Reza Kazemi • Sayed Asadullah Sadat •

The second Nawruz, the first day of the spring and the new solar hejri year, after the Taleban’s return to power comes in an overwhelmingly frustrating atmosphere and appears even more lacklustre than the previous one. The Taleban have effectively banned it as a holiday and public celebration. A host of other crippling challenges such as severe […]

21 Mar 2023

Two Security Council Resolutions and a Humanitarian Appeal: UN grapples with its role in Afghanistan

Jelena Bjelica • Roxanna Shapour •

Recent complex negotiations surrounding UNAMA’s mandate in Taleban-run Afghanistan have shone a light on longstanding divisions among UN Security Council members concerning key issues, such as human rights, women’s rights, peace and security and governance. This year, on 16 March 2023, member states agreed to resolve their differences by passing two Afghanistan-related resolutions; one that […]

19 Mar 2023

Taliban Militants Fed Up With Office Culture, Ready to Quiet Quit

Time, 17 March 2023 Time magazine also re-worked AAN’s report about how Taleban feel in the newly conquered Afghan capital into a short article.

17 Mar 2023

What Do The Taleban Spend Afghanistan’s Money On? Government expenditure under the Islamic Emirate

Kate Clark • Roxanna Shapour •

When the Taleban captured power in 2021, they moved swiftly to take over domestic revenue collection, adopting Ministry of Finance systems for taxes and customs. As insurgents, they had been diligent tax collectors and brought a wealth of experience in collecting money from people, but little in spending it – outside the war effort. Since […]

16 Mar 2023

UAE: Arbitrarily Detained Afghans Stuck in Limbo

Human Rights Watch, 15 March 2023 New report giving a rare insight into the not well-known and abominable situation of “between 2,400 and 2,700 Afghans” who had been evacuated on private chartered flights to Abu Dhabi by the UAE (on the request by the US and possibly other countries) and accommodated in two locations there, […]

15 Mar 2023

Afghanische Ex-Ortskräfte: Gefangene im eigenen Land

dpa, 14 March 2023 In this item by German Press Agency re-published in a number of German media about the former German government’s local Afghan employees stuck under the Taleban, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted as saying on the issue of whether it’s true, as often claimed, that the raid fall of Kabul, due to […]

14 Mar 2023

Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs Overview 2023 (January 2023)

UNOCHA, 23 January 2023 Afghanistan is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis with a very real risk of systemic collapse and human catastrophe. In addition to unimaginable human costs, this humanitarian crisis is reversing many of the gains of the last 20 years, including around women’s rights. The end of the 20 year armed conflict between […]

10 Mar 2023

Rache des Islamischen Staats? Selbstmordanschlag auf einen Taliban-Gouverneur

Tageszeitung (taz), 10 March 2023 In the Berlin-based daily, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig analysis the (now) ISKP-claimed suicide attack that killed the Taleban’s Balkh governor Mulla Muzammel and provides some background – and even more in his blog, here (in German).

10 Mar 2023

Hijab: A multi-layered dilemma in Afghanistan

The Leaflet, 9 March 2023 This article quotes AAN research on the Taleban’s hijab prescription: Afghanistan does not have a strict dress code and a specific hijab to follow. According to the Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent non-profit policy research and analysis organisation, “[i]t has been extremely rare for Afghan woman, even in recent years, to choose to be […]

9 Mar 2023

Women bear brunt of Afghanistan job losses

ILO, 8 March 2023 New ILO figures show that in Afghanistan, in the fourth quarter of 2022, female employment was estimated to have been 25 per cent lower than in the second quarter of 2021, before the Taleban’s second takeover. Male employment levels are down seven per cent in the same period.

8 Mar 2023