Search results

The Quran burnings and the different faces of restraint

The fourth day of protests has ended with a mixed picture: on one hand relief over what seemed to have been a sense of restraint in many areas, on the other hand sadness and resignation over the reports of violence and deaths coming from a handful of places. All in all, it was not as […]

24 Feb 2012 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

The Quran burnings and the different faces of anger

Yesterday’s thoughtless and avoidable burning of several Qurans at Bagram air base has sparked a second day of protests across Afghanistan. The repercussions are expected to reverberate for several more days, at least. The demonstrations are a combination of religious outrage, pent-up frustration and groups wanting to stir trouble. It is difficult to predict how […]

22 Feb 2012 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

Quran Burning on Bagram Base

This blog can be very short, thinks Thomas Ruttig, a Senior Analyst at AAN, and doesn’t require any Afghanistan expertise: Books and other reading material, Islamic or otherwise, do not belong in the garbage. If you stick to this basic rule, Quran burnings and retaliatory riots can be avoided. For an alternative to dispose of printed material, […]

21 Feb 2012 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

Are the Taleban talking to Karzai (and does it matter)?

When little is clear, all clues seem relevant. And so it can happen that a handful of fairly vague sentences by the President are taken as proof of a significant new step towards negotiations in Afghanistan. A closer look at these claims of emerging “three-way talks” shows that this reading is rather premature, as is […]

18 Feb 2012 Martine van Bijlert • War and Peace

Guest Blog: No Frontpage News? Afghanistan’s Ongoing IDP Crisis

A powerful article published in the New York Times on 3 February 2011 has raised the critical question about what, if anything, humanitarian agencies are doing to address the growing IDP crisis in Afghanistan and how many children (and adults) have to die until the international community is willing to wake up and admit that […]

13 Feb 2012 Susanne Schmeidl • Dan Tyler • Migration

War Without Accountability: The CIA, Special Forces and plans for Afghanistan’s future

That US Special Forces are likely to remain in Afghanistan after 2014 and for the long haul, has been discussed for some time. According to The Washington Post, which went to a talk by the former head of US Special Operations Forces (SOF) in Afghanistan, Admiral Bill McRaven, at the National Defence Industrial Association in […]

10 Feb 2012 Kate Clark • International Engagement

Protests and Factional Conflict in Sarepul

Since 8 December last year, demonstrations are continuing in Sarepul. While this remote northern province has been one of the areas least affected by the insurgency for many years, of late it has been pulled into the vortex of the Northern insurgency, too. But the protests have a different background: their origins lie in local […]

9 Feb 2012 Thomas Ruttig • Rights and Freedoms

Talks Have Not Stopped Killing of Afghan Civilians

The number of Afghan civilians being killed in the war has risen yet again, according to UNAMA’s yearly assessment of civilian casualties for 2011. The eight per cent increase since 2010 (25 per cent increase since 2009) is largely due to the actions of ‘anti-government elements’, as the UN refers to the insurgents who are, […]

4 Feb 2012 Kate Clark • War and Peace

Women and Reconciliation (4): A Response to Anatol Lieven’s Afghan Books Review

Never propose a political system or solution for anybody that you could not live with yourself, not even for women. AAN’s Sari Kouvo comments on Anatol Lieven’s review ‘Afghanistan: The Best Way to Peace’ in the February 2012 issue of the New York Review of Books and notes that Lieven’s ‘best way’ for women is […]

3 Feb 2012 Sari Kouvo • Rights and Freedoms

The Emperor’s New Clothes: The leaked NATO report on the Taleban

The BBC and The Times have obtained a classified NATO assessment of the Taleban. The leaked report, which has made headline news, has informed us that NATO thinks Pakistan is supporting the Taleban, that the Taleban are defiant and enjoy widespread support, that Afghans frequently prefer them to their corrupt government and that Afghan government […]

2 Feb 2012 Kate Clark • Regional Relations