Month: December 2023

Surviving the Crisis: A Socioeconomic Assessment of the Middle Class in Kabul

Biruni Institute, December 2023 Authors Dr Lutfi Rahimi ([email protected]) and Dr Omar Joya ([email protected]), both from the Biruni Institute, provide an assessment of the socioeconomic status of the urbanite middle class in Kabul and how they coped with radical institutional changes and persistent economic shocks since the Taliban takeover in August 2021. The study is […]

31 Dec 2023

La Croazia e i migranti alle frontiere d’Europa

Fabrizio Foschini •

Clionet, December 2023 This article is a revised version of an earlier AAN report by Fabrizio on Afghan refugees on the Balkan route, this time focusing solely on Croatia and published in the Italian online journal of contemporary history, Clionet.

31 Dec 2023

UN Security Council Resolution on Afghanistan: Just another ‘much ado about nothing’?

AAN Team •

The United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution on the Independent Assessment on Afghanistan, which former Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Feridun Sinirlioğlu had put together. UNSC Resolution 2721 only passed after a month and a half of Security Council meetings, mainly held behind closed doors and two weeks of intensive negotiations on its […]

31 Dec 2023

Of Hunters and Hunted (2): Falconry, bird smuggling and wildlife conservation

Fabrizio Foschini •

The cold weather marks the start of the hunting season in many countries across the world. In Afghanistan, despite a hunting ban, this time of year sees the resumption of particular hunting-related activities. One particular group of hunters – raptor birds migrating through the country – become the hunted. Every year, some are caught and […]

28 Dec 2023

Of Hunters and Hunted (1): Falconry in Afghanistan from classical literature to colonial sources 

Fabrizio Foschini •

Unbeknownst to many, Afghanistan has a rich historical heritage related to falconry. Photographs dating from the 1950s to the 1970s offer a relatively recent glimpse of Afghan falconers with their birds. However, those ancient traditions of Afghans practising falconry – embodied in literary works such as the Baznama, The Book of the Falcon, by Pashtun poet […]

25 Dec 2023

Afghanistan Boosts Russian Oil Imports, Trade Amid Banking Sanctions

Voice of America, 21 December 2023 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted here on Russia-Taleban relations: “Russia’s general policy toward the Taliban seems to be ambivalent, keeping all doors open,” Thomas Ruttig, an expert with Afghanistan Analysts Network, wrote to VOA in an email. “Russia’s relations with the Taliban are not so much about Afghanistan, or […]

21 Dec 2023

Zwei Frauenrechtlerinnen frei

Tageszeitung, 20 December 2023 Guest article by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig in the Berlin-based daily, reporting the recent release of two women activists from jail by the Taleban after about three months, but also that they do not talk publicly about their prison time, as a result of Taleban threats to them and their families. He […]

20 Dec 2023

Afghanistan: Abschied vom Opium

Deutsche Welle, 20 December 2023 This analysis of the Taleban’s ban of opium and other drugs contains some quotes from AAN’s Thomas Ruttig. On the question whether the religious arguments with which the ban had been justified were plausible, he says: “In my opinion, the fact that the Taliban are also harming themselves with this […]

20 Dec 2023

Försiktigt kinesiskt engagemang i Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

Swedish Afghanistan Committee, 18 December 2023 This is an abbreviated translation into Swedish of Thomas Ruttig’s Septemr 2023 AAN report, titled “Chinese Investments in Afghanistan: Strategic economic move or incentive for the Emirate?” on the Swedish Committee’s website.

18 Dec 2023

The Handling of Complaints of Gender-Based Violence against Women and Girls by Afghanistan’s de facto Authorities

UNAMA, December 2023 In this new report, UNAMA looks at UNAMA observed that the de facto authorities’ handling of complaints and cases of gender-based violence against women and girls in the context that after the Taleban takeover and their imposing of discriminatory restrictions on women and girls further heightening their vulnerability to gender-based violence, both in the public […]

15 Dec 2023

Land in Afghanistan: This time, retaking instead of grabbing land?

Ali Mohammad Sabawoon •

When the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) retook power, it started reclaiming state land that had been seized during previous administrations. In October 2022, the IEA established the Land-Grabbing Prevention and Restitution Commission, within the Ministry of Justice, whose purpose is to investigate land-grabbing under the Islamic Republic, restore any state land and prevent it […]

15 Dec 2023

Selected parts of the Draft Law Concerning the Prevention of Usurpation of Land and Restitution of Usurped Land

AAN has translated selected articles from the Draft Law Concerning the Prevention of Usurpation of Land and Restitution of Usurped Land that specify the types of land which are of concern to the IEA and which are referred to in the 15 December 2023 report ‘Land in Afghanistan: This time, retaking instead of grabbing land?‘ […]

15 Dec 2023