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Peace in The Air, But Where Is Justice? Efforts to get transitional justice on the table

A new museum, commemorating war crimes and their victims, has opened in Kabul. The Afghanistan Centre for Memories and Dialogue is dedicated to collecting the stories of survivors and the families of victims of war crimes. Their voices have rarely been heard in recent decades, partly because dealing with the legacy of violations in the […]

28 Feb 2019 Sari Kouvo • Ehsan Qaane • Rights and Freedoms

AAN Co-director, Thomas Ruttig on history of Afghan conflict and the current peace process (in German) – February 2019

AAN’s Thomas Ruttig discusses history of the Afghan conflict, Taleban and current peace process with German outlet Jung & Naiv.      

28 Feb 2019 Thomas Ruttig • Podcasts

One Land, Two Rules (3): Delivering public services in insurgency-affected Dasht-e Archi district in Kunduz province

Dasht-e Archi, a district in the northeastern corner of Kunduz province is almost entirely controlled by the Taleban. They have established shadow sub-national governance structures in the district, while most local government officials are absent and work remotely from the provincial capital. Although the Taleban do not provide any services themselves, they have co-opted government […]

26 Feb 2019 Obaid Ali • Economy, Development, Environment

Record Numbers of Civilian Casualties Overall, from Suicide Attacks and Air Strikes: UNAMA reports on the conflict in 2018

The downturn in civilian casualties recorded in 2017 has reversed. UNAMA, in its 2018 Annual Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Afghanistan, released today, records almost 11,000 civilians injured or killed in 2018, a five per cent increase compared to 2017. It is the highest number of civilian casualties on record. […]

24 Feb 2019 Kate Clark • War and Peace

“Faint lights twinkling against the dark”: Reportage from the fight against ISKP in Nangrahar

It has been almost four years since the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) captured territory in southern Nangrahar province, where it ruled with extreme brutality, and nearly two years since the United States military and Afghan government forces began concertedly fighting the group there. (The Taleban, too, have fought ISKP sporadically.) The last commander of […]

19 Feb 2019 Andrew Quilty • War and Peace

From Sufi Sheikh to President: Historic mujahedin leader Mujaddedi passes away

With Sebghatullah Mujaddedi, another of the historic leaders of the mujahedin parties, which fought the Soviet occupation (1979-89), has died. Mujaddedi belonged to a famous family of Sufi leaders and for this spiritual position, he was widely known simply as with the honorific ‘Hazrat Saheb’ in Afghanistan. Having been severely ill for some time, Mujaddedi […]

13 Feb 2019 Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

Afghanistan’s 2019 elections (2): Who is running to become the next president?

The Independent Election Commission has published the preliminary list of the 2019 presidential candidates. The list includes 18 candidates. It should now go through a vetting process and a challenge and appeal period before it is finalised and published on 26 March, according to the electoral calendar. AAN’s researcher, Ali Yawar Adili, looks at the […]

11 Feb 2019 Ali Yawar Adili • Political Landscape

The Afghan Women’s Network’s statement published before the intra-Afghan dialogue meeting held in Moscow in February 2019

The Afghan Women’s Network’s six point statement published before the intra-Afghan dialogue meeting held in Moscow in February 2019, provides further guidance about the concrete demands of Afghan women, asking to: bring Afghan women to the table not choose peace without human rights be direct about women’s rights not change the political order not compromise law and […]

4 Feb 2019 Peace process

“Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”: First steps in Afghan peace negotiations

With the US-Taleban negotiations in Doha actually addressing how to end the Afghan war, and with first progress being made in the form of an agreed draft framework, Afghanistan seems to be slowly inching beyond the impasse of only ‘talks about talks.’ With this, a peace process has possibly left the starting blocks, but only […]

4 Feb 2019 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

Speculation Abounding: Trying to make sense of the attacks against Shias in Herat city

Herat – the generally safe and prosperous city in western Afghanistan – has seen a series of attacks against Shia religious figures and sites, especially since 2016. Fieldwork shows there is little empirical evidence as to who the perpetrators are or why they carried out these attacks. Based on conversations with Shia and Sunni activists, […]

3 Feb 2019 S Reza Kazemi • War and Peace