“Our Lives Changed”: Afghans remember the coming of the Soviet troops Forty years ago, Soviet forces entered Afghanistan, killed then President Hafizullah Amin from the Khalq faction of the ruling communist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) on 27 December 1979 and brought to power Babrak Karmal, who was from the rival Parcham faction. The move was meant to be a relatively short-lived, regime change operation, […] 27 Dec 2019 AAN Team • S Reza Kazemi • War and Peace
A Turning Point in World History: 40 years ago, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan 40 years ago today, on 25 December 1979. Two days later, on 27 December, they toppled and killed Amin’s Khalqi’s government which had called for the troops and had assumed they had come for their rescue. The resulting occupation that would last for more than ten years became the last direct […] 25 Dec 2019 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace
Freed at Last: Three Afghans sent to Guantanamo in 2002 and 2003 are finally home Three Afghans, who were detained and rendered to the US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay in 2002 and 2003, and then transferred to the United Arab Emirates 2016 and what turned out to be further incarceration, have been released. Obaidullah and Mohammed Karim from Khost and Hamidullah from Kabul have also been allowed to return […] 23 Dec 2019 Kate Clark • Rights and Freedoms
Afghanistan’s 2019 Elections (27): The preliminary result, finally, but no end to controversy The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has finally announced the preliminary results of the 28 September presidential election. The announcement came on 22 December, almost three months after the vote and more than two months after the results announcement had been envisaged in the electoral calendar. In these preliminary results, President Ashraf Ghani has crossed the […] 22 Dec 2019 Ali Yawar Adili • Political Landscape
Presidential Election Preliminary Results- 2019 The preliminary results of the 2019 presidential election broken down by the votes for each candidate were as follows, can be downloaded here. (see the original source here): 22 Dec 2019 Elections
Peace in the Districts (2): Prospects, approaches and an emphasis on a ‘good peace’ In this second of two dispatches on what people in ten districts across Afghanistan think about prospects for peace, we hear their views on the relationship between a possible high-level peace deal and actual peace in the districts. Interviewees expressed a striking mix of optimistic and sceptical opinions as to the local viability of any […] 20 Dec 2019 S Reza Kazemi • War and Peace
One Land, Two Rules (9): Delivering public services in insurgency-affected Jalrez district of Wardak province Ethnically-mixed Jalrez district has seen increased Taleban activity since 2014, with approximately half of it now under their control. The district centre is the most contested sub-district, having been surrounded and repeatedly attacked by the Taleban. Twenty kilometres of the secondary Kabul-Bamyan highway, which connects the Hazarajat to the Afghan capital, is under Taleban control. […] 16 Dec 2019 Ehsan Qaane • Economy, Development, Environment
Legal Arguments and War Crimes: the ICC Appeals Hearing on Afghanistan in Five Questions The judges of the International Criminal Court’s Appeals Chamber are now deciding whether to authorise an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly perpetrated in Afghanistan. The court’s Pre-Trial Chamber decided in April to reject such an investigation. At the appeal hearing, everyone who spoke agreed that crimes severe enough for the ICC […] 13 Dec 2019 Ehsan Qaane • Sari Kouvo • Rights and Freedoms
Peace in the Districts (1): A chasm between high talks and local concerns in Afghanistan As talks between the United States and the Taleban resume in Doha, we bring you the first of two dispatches on what Afghans in ten districts across the country think about the prospects for peace. The focus of the first dispatch is a theme which emerged from the interviews, the relationship – or lack of […] 11 Dec 2019 S Reza Kazemi • War and Peace
Afghanistan’s 2019 Elections (26): A Q&A about the ongoing election stalemate The aftermath of Afghanistan’s 2019 presidential election has now dragged on for 72 days. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has missed two dates for the announcement of preliminary results and is 50 days behind its original election timetable. The commission has not decided yet when it will announce the results. Meanwhile, the IEC’s audit and […] 8 Dec 2019 Ali Yawar Adili • Political Landscape
