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Will the ‘Heart of Asia’ start beating? A review of the regional co-operation process

The dragging-on of the presidential election has also affected regional co-operation on Afghanistan. The Afghan government, supported by the international community, has been attempting to work with regional states towards co-operation on security and development in Afghanistan and its neighbourhood under what is called the ‘Heart of Asia’ or Istanbul process since November 2011. Scheduled […]

29 Aug 2014 S Reza Kazemi • Regional Relations

The ‘Other Guantanamo’ (8): A full list of foreign detainees at Bagram?

 The United States military has always been highly secretive about the men it holds at the detention centre on Bagram airbase, only ever releasing one list of names – in February 2009, following a Freedom of Information request. AAN’s Kate Clark has been going through various sources of information and has put together what may […]

28 Aug 2014 Kate Clark • War and Peace

Thematic Dossier IV: Afghanistan’s 2014 Presidential and Provincial Council Elections

This year’s ‘political transition’ is hugely important: if all goes well, Afghanistan will see a new leader and a rare example in its history of a change of government not involving death, coup or conquest. If it goes badly, there will be consequences for the country’s stability. For many of those at the Afghanistan Analysts […]

21 Aug 2014 AAN Team • Dossiers

Elections 2014 (45): Solving audit problems by creating new ones

Afghanistan’s drawn-out election continues to keep a very large number of people very busy. And although there has been progress – both on the political and the technical side – this has mainly been achieved by delaying or isolating key discussion points and contentious decisions. The audit has finally started speeding up, but only after […]

19 Aug 2014 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

Footsloggers, Turncoats and Enforcers: The fight along the eastern border

Among the recent wave of large-scale attacks in Afghanistan, several hot spots in the eastern region stand out: Hesarak district in Nangarhar and other nearby districts in the Spin Ghar mountains, Kunar border areas, parts of Laghman and Barg-e Matal district in Nuristan. Fabrizio Foschini has been looking at recent episodes in the conflict in […]

18 Aug 2014 Fabrizio Foschini • War and Peace

Ahmad Zaher or Manga Style? The cutting-edge business of Afghan barbers

A young Afghan man’s morning, across the country, often starts with a time-consuming session of arranging his hair. Afghan men are proud of their usually thick, glossy tufts and barbers accordingly make good business providing their style-hungry customers with the latest cuts. This has tradition. A variety of distinct hairstyles can be seen on photographs […]

15 Aug 2014 Obaid Ali • Context and Culture

Elections 2014 (44): Key documents underwriting the electoral agreement

To provide background to the recent agreement between the two presidential candidates brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry (see here and here), AAN has gathered the texts of relevant statements in one place. These include, first and foremost, the joint declaration agreed and signed by both candidates on 8 August 2014, as well […]

13 Aug 2014 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

Trying to Stop the Bases: Another opposition block in the making?

A political front composed of traditional mujahedin and neo-Islamist groups that oppose any foreign military presence has raised objections to the plan to establish a ‘national unity government’. It rather proposes setting up an ‘inclusive’ government, which would also involve the main insurgent groups, in order to end the war and then to hold fresh […]

12 Aug 2014 Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

2014 Elections (43): The second installment of a Kerry-brokered agreement

US Secretary of State John Kerry made his second visit to Kabul in a month, in a repeated attempt to help Afghanistan finally arrive at an election outcome – preferably before the NATO summit in early September. The press conference at the end of his visit, together with both presidential candidates, was in many ways […]

9 Aug 2014 Martine van Bijlert • International Engagement

Афганистан.Ру: Russian elite views of Afghanistan on the eve of the US departure

When post-Soviet Russia lost its super-power status, this not only reduced its political and military role in many regions of the world but also spending on analysis, at least on the public academic level. Even Afghanistan, a country in Russia’s immediate neighbourhood, suffered that fate. Афганистан.Ру (Afghanistan.ru), a website with the sub-heading “all about Afghanistan,” […]

8 Aug 2014 Dmitry Shlapentokh • Regional Relations