Placating Ghor, For Now: 10-days protest pushed the government to respond Frustrated by the exclusion of their primary development needs from Afghanistan’s budget for the coming year, a growing number of residents in the neglected and isolated central province of Ghor brought the local administration to a standstill by staging a sit-in for around ten days (21-31 January 2020). They only agreed to end their demonstration […] 5 Feb 2020 S Reza Kazemi • Economy, Development, Environment
US-Taleban Agreement Still in the Air: Disputes about a ‘ceasefire’ versus ‘reduction of violence’ Over the past few weeks, the Taleban first stoked expectations that an agreement with the United States was imminent, and then expressed frustration that it was not yet signed. They had appeared to be trying to edge forward to an agreement by offering to “scale down military operations” against both US and Afghan troops – […] 30 Jan 2020 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace
The Gates of Friendship: How Afghans cross the Afghan-Pakistani border There are three official crossings on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, a boundary also known as the Durand Line. Two of these crossings are well-known: Torkham in the east and Spin Boldak in the south of Afghanistan. The gates that separate the two countries in the south read “the Gates of Friendship” in Pashto: […] 28 Jan 2020 Ali Mohammad Sabawoon • Regional Relations
Afghanistan’s 2019 Election (28): ECC starts final, decisive phase of complaints procedure The process to determine the outcome of Afghanistan’s 2019 presidential election has moved into its last phase. The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) has started to deal with the 6,292 appeals filed against the decisions made by its provincial offices. The ECC has 15 working days to adjudicate the appeals, but it may need more time, […] 25 Jan 2020 Ali Yawar Adili • Political Landscape
AAN Obituary: Unfaltering women’s rights activist Soraya Parlika (1944-2019) Soraya Parlika, political and women’s rights activist, has died at the age of 75. She had, said Sahraa Karimi, Chair of the Afghan Film Organisation, who made a documentary about Parlika, “dedicated her life to the life of women of Afghanistan and never left her motherland even during the hard years of civil war and […] 15 Jan 2020 Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape
AAN’s most-read dispatches in 2019: Peace talks and presidential polls dominate As 2020 begins, we wanted to take a look back at what you were reading on the AAN website in 2019. Dominating the dispatches that were most read on our English language site were those analysing the Afghan presidential elections and the negotiations between the United States and the Taleban. Our Dari and Pashto readers […] 10 Jan 2020 Kate Clark • Context and Culture
The Largest Standing Stupa in Afghanistan: A short history of the Buddhist site at Topdara A dome-shaped ancient Buddhist shrine, the Topdara stupa to the north of Kabul was described by 19th century British explorer Charles Masson as “perhaps the most complete and beautiful monument of the kind in these countries.” Since Masson’s visit in 1833, the Topdara stupa saw few visitors and had fallen into neglect until recently, in […] 8 Jan 2020 Jelena Bjelica • Context and Culture
AAN Reads: An Afghanistan history covering 750 years Eminent Afghanistan specialists and historians have praised Jonathan L Lee’s 2018 Afghanistan: a history from 1260 to the present as “detailed research of the highest quality” and even the new go-to “encyclopaedia” on this subject. It is indeed encyclopaedic, pulling interesting episodes out of the dark of Afghan history, but still, it is partly disappointing, […] 2 Jan 2020 Thomas Ruttig • Context and Culture
Thematic Dossier XXIV: Ten years of reporting on civilian casualties, still no ceasefire As the Taleban and the United States sit down together again to discuss the possibility of a peace agreement, the issue that appears to be most pressing for Afghans is a ceasefire. Not surprising given that 2019 is likely to be the sixth year in a row when the number of civilians killed and injured […] 30 Dec 2019 AAN Team • Dossiers
