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A Year-Ender: The Dummies’ Guide to the Geneva Conventions

While the Taleban have been stepping up their assassination campaign in the past year, another worrying development occurred: There were several cases of international forces, Special Forces in particular, entering NGO-run clinics on pursuit of alleged insurgents, bullying medical staff for treating insurgents or using clinics temporarily as bases. This clearly violates the Geneva Conventions. […]

31 Dec 2011 Susanne Schmeidl • International Engagement

AAN wishes everyone a safe, happy and peaceful 2012.

With prayers and wishes for steps towards in peace in Afghanistan and happiness for all our readers and friends. May the coming year be better than the last.

30 Dec 2011 AAN • admin • Events

Guest Blog: Afghanistan’s post-2014 relation crisis

As the year 2011 nears its end and analysts all over the world write their end-of-year reviews, Afghan journalist Akmal Dawi discusses Afghanistan’s regional relations. He finds Kabul at odds with many regional capitals, for reasons that are beyond its control, and wonders what kind of hostile post-2014 neighbourhood Afghanistan may find itself in. President […]

30 Dec 2011 Akmal Dawi • Regional Relations

Another Blow to Justice: Three Commissioners Fired from the AIHRC

Three of the nine members of Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), one of the most successful, outspoken and internationally venerated institutions of post-Taleban Afghanistan, are losing their posts. What has been declared as a normal process, of bringing fresh blood into the commission, smells very political, though. It rather looks as if this is […]

23 Dec 2011 Thomas Ruttig • Rights and Freedoms

Ministry of Education reacts to “The Battle for the Schools”

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education has issued an official statement in Dari in response to AAN’s latest report “The Battle for the Schools”, in which it refutes all substance of the report, calls its findings fabricated and assures the great Afghan nation of its tireless efforts and the impeccable Islamic credentials of its curriculum. The full […]

19 Dec 2011 Martine van Bijlert • Economy, Development, Environment

An Address for the Taleban in Qatar

The much heralded Taleban office in a third country seems finally about to be opened. The news that this will happen in Qatar, broken by an Indian newspaper on Wednesday* and picked up by Kabul-based Tolo TV a day later, was followed by President Karzai calling back his ambassador in Doha ‘for consultations’ claiming that […]

16 Dec 2011 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

Melons: Afghan riches at the surface level

Winter chills are slowly creeping into our sunny Kabul existences. There are few comforts for this, and one is certainly fruit. In this season, oranges, guavas and, above all, pomegranates do a lot to assuage our troubles. AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini and Gran Hewad have also been finding solace in the memory of the bountiful melon […]

15 Dec 2011 Fabrizio Foschini • Context and Culture

13 December: New AAN Report about the Taleban and State Education

The new AAN report ‘The Battle for Education: The Taleban and State Education’ by authors Antonio Giustozzi and Claudio Franco looks at the Taleban’s changing attitude towards state education. In the last two years, the Taleban have increasingly allowed schools to operate in areas under their control or influence, but this has come at a […]

13 Dec 2011 AAN • admin • Events

Life on the Frontline (1): Travelling on Wardak’s Roads: ’We feel we are dead’

In a new occasional series of blogs AAN will be looking at what it is like to live in areas contested by Taleban and the Afghan government/US forces. In this first contribution, a reporter from Wardak who asked not to be named, spoke to men from Jaghatu district about travelling on the province’s roads. How […]

13 Dec 2011 AAN Team • War and Peace

The Battle for Schools: The Taleban and State Education

This new AAN report by authors Antonio Giustozzi and Claudio Franco looks at the Taleban’s changing attitude towards state education. In the last two years, the Taleban have increasingly allowed schools to operate in areas under their control or influence, but this has come at a price – a more conservative curriculum and more mullahs […]

13 Dec 2011 Antonio Giustozzi • Claudio Franco • Special Reports