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Gulbuddin ante portas – again (2)

Veteran mujahedin and current no. 2 insurgent leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar gave a rare and extensive interview to German TV. AAN’s Senior Analyst Thomas Ruttig thinks that he was trying a walk on the tightrope, responding to the opened doors for ‘reconciliation’ while projecting that he is not too soft on the US and Kabul’s offers […]

6 Nov 2010 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

2010 Elections 31: Who will fix the election?

The ECC has forwarded the names of 413 candidates to the Attorney General’s Office, while the Attorney General’s Office has initiated investigations into both electoral bodies. As the various branches of government argue over how the process should have been done and who is to blame for the flaws, it is becoming increasingly clear that […]

6 Nov 2010 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

2010 Elections 30: Loose ends and entanglements

As the basic data is still being released and clarified (or not), the IEC has found itself confronted with a series of awkward loose ends. This is being complicated by the rising pressure from candidates, the palace and, more recently, the Attorney General’s Office, as an increasing number of actors is being dragged into the […]

4 Nov 2010 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

Another High Council, for ‘Our’ Youth

After the big success of the High Peace Council, the sequel follows suit: After a two-day ‘General Assembly’ in the Loya Jirga tent in Kabul, a National Youth High Council has been formed. Reading its final press release, it sounds as if it has been organized by the Afghan government itself. Is it now claiming […]

2 Nov 2010 Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

Splitting the Haqqanis with NATO Reconciliation Air?

The initial big wave of reports about talks with the Taleban gathering speed and of a possible short-term ‘reconciliation’ have given way for a slower but steady trickle of spicy detail. A detail dropped here, some names there, mixed with half-denials like Richard Holbrooke’s ‘There is less than meets the eye’ line keep the shurwa(*) […]

1 Nov 2010 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

Reconciliation in Afghanistan: Can the UN right some wrongs?

Our guest author Horia Mosadiq(*) looks at the United Nations’ role now and then in Afghanistan, with special attention to its numerous attempts to ‘peace deals relying largely on power-sharing’. She sees the latest initiatives for ‘reconciliation’ as a continuation of this approach and discusses its possible implications for justice, with its inherent differentiation of […]

31 Oct 2010 Horia Mosadiq • International Engagement

A Washington Diary: Partition Lite and a lot of hope

Less than two weeks to go to the US mid-term elections with the expected rout of Obama’s democrats, the war in Afghanistan is no issue at all in the campaign. The decision, says everyone here, is taken anyway: The US will pull out most of its troops, re-label the rest as trainers and advisers, keep […]

25 Oct 2010 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

2010 Elections 29: Losing legitimacy – Kandahar’s preliminary winners

There has been some very positive news coming out of Kandahar province lately, as the New York Times’ Carlotta Gall has reported(*). According to ISAF and Afghan government officials, the Taliban have been “routed” from the province by a massive military offensive, partly with the help of a miraculous rocket launcher, the HIMARS system, which, […]

25 Oct 2010 Matthieu Aikins • Political Landscape

2010 Elections 28: Sacrifing the vote for a semblance of control

Most international supporters had reached an early conclusion that whatever happened in the field, the IEC in Kabul did their job well – guarding the process and maintaining a level of independence and transparency. Candidates and voters strongly disagree and are venting suspicions of manipulation and foul play up to the highest level. The results […]

25 Oct 2010 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

A Karzai-Taleban coalition won’t survive a few days

Former UN and EU Special Envoy to Afghanistan and the chairman of AAN’s advisory board Francesc Vendrell talked to the Voice of America about the much-reported contacts between the Afghan government and some elements of the Taliban on possible peace negotiations. Here some relatively expansive quotes from the 19 October article. Francesc Vendrell who is […]

23 Oct 2010 Francesc Vendrell • War and Peace