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Searching for the Afghan Snowfinch: Memories of a birdwatching journey fifty years ago

The bearded vulture, the rich diversity of wheatears and, above all, the Afghan snowfinch – found nowhere else in the world – are what drew a young ornithologist, Voislav Vasić, to travel from Yugoslavia to Afghanistan in the summer of 1972. In this guest dispatch, Vasić, now the retired head of the national Natural History […]

13 Sep 2019 Voislav Vasic • Context and Culture

16 Sept 2019: Do the Taleban Want Peace? Seminar in Oslo

Seminar in Oslo on 16 September (6-8pm), organised by the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee. Panel with: Ashley Jackson, Overseas Development Institute and Kings College, London Thomas Ruttig, Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) Ahmad Yasir Aqil, freelancer, Oslo moderator: Kai Eide     Here the original (Norwegian) announcement: Invitasjon til møte 16. september. kl 18-20, Tøyen,Oslo AKTUELT/ onsdag […]

13 Sep 2019 Thomas Ruttig • Events

Taleban attacks on Kunduz and Pul-e Khumri: Symbolic operations

In the last week Taleban have attacked and entered three provincial centres, Kunduz city, Pul-e Khumri in Baghlan and Farah city, before being pushed back. This dispatch focusses on the offensives against Pul-e Khumri and Kunduz, considering them in the context of the regional security of northeastern Afghanistan. It finds that key lessons from earlier […]

11 Sep 2019 Obaid Ali • Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Declaration about the Tweet of Donald Trump Regarding the Negotiations

8 September 2019 We had fruitful negotiations with the American negotiation team and the agreement was finalised. The American negotiation team was happy with the progresses made and we ended the talks in a good atmosphere. Both teams were busy with preparations for the announcement and signing of the agreement. We had selected 23 September […]

8 Sep 2019 Taleban and related documents

Trump Ends Talks with the Taleban: What happens next?

United States president Donald Trump has called off talks with the Taleban and cancelled signing of an agreement with them. The trigger, he said, was a suicide bomb which killed one US soldier and “11 other people” carried out “seemingly [to] strengthen their bargaining position.” However, voices against the ‘agreement in principle’ deal had already […]

8 Sep 2019 Kate Clark • War and Peace

One Land, Two Rules (8): Delivering public services in insurgency-affected insurgent-controlled Zurmat district

The Taleban’s military dominance in Zurmat district of Paktia province has allowed them to assert their will over how government and NGO-provided public services are delivered. Their motivation varies from ideological control (education and media) to revenue generation (taxes on telecommunications and public infrastructure projects). In this district, the Taleban have expanded into tax collection […]

4 Sep 2019 Obaid Ali • Christian Bleuer • Sayed Asadullah Sadat • War and Peace

US-Taleban talks: An imminent agreement without peace?

News coming out of the latest round of US-Taleban negotiations suggest that an agreement is imminent, but that in the desire to meet the White House’s 1 September 2019 deadline, the US have made concessions that may well complicate an actual peace agreement in Afghanistan. It appears that the US have dropped the “nothing is […]

30 Aug 2019 Thomas Ruttig • Martine van Bijlert • War and Peace

Why has Rural Poverty in Afghanistan Got Worse? New AAN paper on post-2001 agricultural policy

A new AAN paper seeks to understand why agricultural policy since 2001 has failed to increase production, lift rural Afghans out of poverty or secure their food supply. It finds the answers in the stories agricultural development planners tell themselves about how to ‘modernise’ agriculture, even as they ignore evidence from the field. AAN guest […]

27 Aug 2019 Adam Pain • Economy, Development, Environment

Growing Out Of Poverty? Questioning agricultural policy in Afghanistan

A new AAN paper seeks to understand why agricultural policy since 2001 has failed to increase production, lift rural Afghans out of poverty or secure their food supply. It finds the answers in the stories agricultural development planners tell themselves about how to ‘modernise’ agriculture, even as they ignore evidence from the field. AAN guest […]

27 Aug 2019 Adam Pain • Special Reports

Districts with no voter registration/participation, parliamentary election 2018

Annex: Districts with no 2018 voter participation province_name district_name pop_18_19_CSO total_vr VR BADAKHSHAN WARDOJ 23,866 0 NO VR BADAKHSHAN YAMGAN 28,101 0 NO VR BADGHIS GHORMACH 60,179 5,302 VR BUT NO VOTES BAGHLAN DAHANAE GHORI 64,317 0 NO VR FARYAB KOHESTAN 59,538 0 NO VR FARYAB KHWAJA SABZPOSH 55,432 1,679 VR BUT NO VOTES FARYAB […]

23 Aug 2019 Elections