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Taleban for the Ghani Cabinet? A look at a BBC report

It sounded like ‘breaking news’ from Kabul: “The Taliban have been offered posts in the new Afghan government, but have turned them down, the BBC understands. The offer came from new President Ashraf Ghani in a bid to end the insurgency that threatens the recovery of the country.” The BBC report, that came just before […]

11 Jan 2015 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

104 Days Without a Government – and Counting: The national mood sours

More than three months after President Muhammad Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah were inaugurated, they have still not formed a government. That continuing lack of a cabinet has meant public confidence and patience – which, at the time of the inauguration, ran high – are now wearing thin. A civil society […]

9 Jan 2015 Kate Clark • Obaid Ali • Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

After the Rollercoaster Comes What? Afghanistan in 2015

2014 was a rollercoaster of a year. The transition was completed. It did not tear the country apart or fragment the security forces, but it sometimes felt close. Afghanistan now stands at the beginning of the optimistically named Decade of Transformation. The country has a new leadership, both fuelled by confidence and ambition and bogged […]

7 Jan 2015 Martine van Bijlert • International Engagement

A Happy and Peaceful New Year!

Dear AAN friends and readers, we here at the Afghanistan Analysts Network would like to wish all of you a happy and prosperous new year 2015. May it bring us closer to peace in Afghanistan. The team will certainly keep you up to date about what is happening in this regard – and in many […]

1 Jan 2015 AAN Team • Context and Culture

A “Pending Issue”: Pakistani Balochs seeking shelter in Afghanistan

While millions of Afghans have fled to Pakistan over the past four decades, now, Pakistanis are flocking to Afghanistan. There are not only those who flee Pakistani military operations in Waziristan, though, but also Pakistani Balochs who say that they flee from repression by the Pakistani government, linked to latest Baloch insurgency activities. In Afghanistan, […]

31 Dec 2014 Monica Bernabe • Regional Relations

AAN’s Kate Clark on closure of Bagram Detention Facility in Afghanistan, and the fate of the detainees.

In conversation with AAN’s country director Kate Clark on closure of the Bagram Detention Facility in Afghanistan, and what will be the fate of the detainees?

30 Dec 2014 Kate Clark • Podcasts

“Green Is Happiness, Green Is Peace”: Gardening Afghanistan, from Babur to Bost hospital

A garden for a king who loved the flower covered Kabul foothills so much he wanted to be buried there, a garden for checkpoint soldiers (where once a queen allegedly had tea under an apricot tree), one for hospital patients to heal in and one for the children of a poor farmer. In the midst […]

27 Dec 2014 Lalage Snow • Context and Culture

Thomas Ruttig on 2014 elections, Democracy and Political Transitions in Afghanistan

In conversation with one of the co-founders of AAN Thomas Ruttig on 2014 elections, democracy and governance in Afghanistan.

26 Dec 2014 Thomas Ruttig • Podcasts

Merry Christmas!

Here at AAN, we’d like to wish all our readers a Merry Christmas! May your holidays, in Afghanistan as well as abroad, be peaceful. And for those who remain in Kabul and wish to celebrate in style: as every year, fancy trees  are back again and sold, including decoration, on Flower Street in Shar-e Naw. Many […]

24 Dec 2014 AAN Team • Context and Culture

Rambo Was Too Late: Afghanistan in Western films (part I), from 1909 to 2001

Afghanistan has rarely featured in western films, especially when compared to other foreign locales – from countries in Africa to Latin America to East Asia. This cinematic neglect is matched by the lower prominence that Afghanistan was accorded in the popular imagination and in western foreign policy during this era. Despite the shortage of films about […]

23 Dec 2014 Christian Bleuer • Context and Culture