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The ‘Reduction in Violence’ Week: What did (some of the) people think?

The ‘reduction in violence’ week between the US and Afghan militaries and the Taleban started after midnight on 22 February. It is to open the door for a US-Taleban deal on troop withdrawal and anti-terrorism guarantees to be signed on 29 February 2020 and, in the next step, for intra-Afghan peace negotiations. AAN researchers wanted to […]

28 Feb 2020 AAN Team • War and Peace

A Welcome to the New AAN Website

Dear AAN readers, welcome to our new website! In its two versions, in English, and in Dari and Pashto, it is the heart of our work. It is the means by which we make all our research and analysis freely available. This new website is a celebration of our ten-year anniversary as an independent, non-profit […]

26 Feb 2020 AAN Team • Context and Culture

Disputed Casualties in Kushk: The cost of blurring lines between fighters and civilians

The government continues to deny reports about the killing of at least five civilians in one or several airstrikes by Afghan or NATO forces in Kushk district in the north of Herat province on 17 February 2020. The following day, a group of Kushk residents staged a protest in front of the governor’s compound in […]

24 Feb 2020 S Reza Kazemi • War and Peace

Kabul’s Expanding Crime Scene (Part 2): Criminal activities and the police response

In the second part of his reporting on Kabul’s crime scene, AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini deals with the characteristics of the current spike in criminality, in particular detailing the most frequent types of offences and their impact on the lives of the population. He tries to assess the difficult task of the police force in curbing […]

21 Feb 2020 Fabrizio Foschini • Economy, Development, Environment

Afghanistan’s 2019 Elections (30): Final results… and parallel governments?

Afghanistan’s 28 September 2019 presidential election has finally meandered to what may be its end after almost five months, with the Independent Election Commission (IEC) declaring incumbent Ashraf Ghani the first-round winner. However, the result is too narrow and disputed, and the manner of dealing with complaints not transparent enough to quash doubts in his […]

19 Feb 2020 Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

AAN Dossier XXV: The Quest for Peace in Afghanistan, 2015 to 2020

Any day now, a first diplomatic breakthrough toward peace in Afghanistan is expected: the United States and the Taleban have both announced that they have finalised their negotiations which would exchange withdrawal of the US and other NATO troops from the country for anti-terrorism guarantees from the Taleban. These negotiations started in October 2018 in […]

18 Feb 2020 AAN Team • Dossiers

First Breakthrough Toward Peace? A look at the seven-day ‘reduction of violence’

The United States and the Taleban have agreed to reduce violence for seven days, an agreement which would also apply to the Afghan government forces. While not a full ceasefire, it would be a ‘test’ of the seriousness of the parties before the signing of a bilateral deal agreeing the withdrawal of US troops, Taleban […]

17 Feb 2020 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

Still Ifs and Whens: The US and the Taleban inch toward a bilateral agreement

There have been increasing indications over the past few days that the United States and the Taleban are edging toward an agreement – or possibly two. While a declaration of a mutual ‘reduction of violence’ seems imminent, a bilateral US-Taleban agreement opening the way to peace negotiations between the Afghan parties to the conflict appears […]

13 Feb 2020 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

Kabul’s Expanding Crime Scene (Part 1): The roots of today’s underworld

Criminality in Afghanistan, particularly in Kabul, has soared in recent years. An increase in the city’s population, coupled with shrinking economic opportunities, appears to have forced more people into illegal activities as a means of survival. On top of this, the activities of well-armed and politically-connected criminal groups, present in the city and its surroundings […]

11 Feb 2020 Fabrizio Foschini • Context and Culture

Afghanistan’s 2019 Elections (29): A statistical overview of the preliminary results

After four and half months, the final results of the presidential election are still yet to be announced after the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) ordered a partial audit of more than 200,000 suspicious votes and a recount of almost 600 polling stations where there were discrepancies or missing biometric data. At the point where we […]

8 Feb 2020 Ali Yawar Adili • Political Landscape