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Elections 2014 (25): Election mobilisation of women in the Pashtun southeast

For the second round of the presidential election on 14 June 2014, some of the major tribes in Paktia have decided their women should also participate more actively, allowing them to cast their votes themselves. Women turnout in Pashtun-inhabited areas is usually below average, which is increasingly being perceived as a disadvantage by candidates relying […]

12 Jun 2014 Pakteen Ibrahimi • Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

Security Forces Spread Thin: An update from contested Faryab province

On the day after the Afghan vote, nearly unnoticed in the election frenzy, Faryab province experienced yet another complex Taleban attack. Taleban fighters stormed large parts of Qaisar district, and ruled the area for almost three weeks. The Afghan National Police (ANP) and Afghan Local Police (ALP) retreated immediately, outnumbered and faced with more and […]

11 Jun 2014 Obaid Ali • War and Peace

Elections 2014 (24): The IECC’s performance addressing provincial council complaints

While most observers are focused on the upcoming second round of the presidential election, the process surrounding the provincial council vote is still ongoing. The Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) finished its open sessions last week and, in response to allegations of manipulation by IEC staff, ordered a widespread recount of votes, which had already […]

9 Jun 2014 Martine van Bijlert • Qayoom Suroush • Political Landscape

Election 2014 (23): Deals and insults in Afghanistan’s second round campaign

Less than a week before the second round of the presidential election on 14 June 2014, the campaigns of both contenders are well under way. Alongside the main campaign methods of the first round – billboards, large public rallies – the process of deal-making and recruiting influential supporters seems to have now moved to the […]

9 Jun 2014 AAN Team • Political Landscape

Death in Aleppo: A group of Afghan fighters located in Syria

Are Afghans fighting in the war in Syria? There have been a few reports to that effect in the international news media over the past months, detailing recruitment efforts mainly by the Iranian government among Hazaras in order to bolster the Assad regime’s manpower. However, there has never been evidence of Afghan fighters actually present in […]

6 Jun 2014 Christopher Reuter • War and Peace

Bergdahl and the ‘Guantanamo Five’: The long-awaited US-Taleban prisoner swap

The prisoner swap negotiated between the Taleban and United States has seen the release of the captured US soldier, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, in return for five Taleban held at Guantanamo Bay, including one of the movement’s founders, Khairullah Khairkhwa, and the former chief of the army staff, Mullah Fazl. Much of the reporting on the […]

4 Jun 2014 Kate Clark • International Engagement

Bureaucratic Policies and Patronage Politics: Prospects and Challenges of Private Higher Education in Afghanistan

The latest AAN report, “Bureaucratic Policies and Patronage Politics: Prospects and Challenges of Private Higher Education in Afghanistan” by Niamatullah Ibrahimi, looks into the impressive growth of private higher education sector in Afghanistan in recent years but how this growth is overlooking the comprehensive policies and long-term vision towards a better quality education and its […]

1 Jun 2014 Niamatullah Ibrahimi • Special Reports

How good are Afghanistan’s private universities? An interview with the author of AAN’s latest paper

AAN is launching its latest paper, looking at the state of Afghanistan’s private higher education sector (download paper here). Over the past five years, private universities have experienced an unprecedented boom. This is not only good news. In this interview, the author of the paper, Niamatullah Ibrahimi (*), an Afghan analysts who has extensively researched and written about current and […]

1 Jun 2014 AAN Team • Economy, Development, Environment

Thematic Dossier V: Afghan Education Policies and Politics

Accompanying our latest paper on education in Afghanistan – on the advantages and disadvantages of a rapidly growing private higher education sector –, we offer another of our Thematic Dossiers. It provides an overview of all of AAN’s education related dispatches and papers. For easier access to the body of work that includes pieces from the past five years […]

1 Jun 2014 AAN Team • Dossiers

The Other Transfer of Power: Fahim’s death and Massud’s succession

Until the elections of 5 April, the demise of Marshal Mohammed Qasim Fahim constituted the single major political event of 2014 in Afghanistan. His death directly affects the internal politics of a large group of Afghans: all those living in the north-eastern quadrant of the country. Tracing the political ascent of Fahim and assessing the […]

30 May 2014 Fabrizio Foschini • Political Landscape