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AAN in Berlin (4 December 2017): The Afghanistan Rumour Kitchen

rumours about_Afghanistan: is the name of a Berlin anti-deportation initiative, based on the title of a campaign the German Embassy launched last year via social media and large-format posters in Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif in order to persuade Afghans not to leave their country and come to Germany. Two days before Germany’s planned eight deportation […]

3 Dec 2017 Thomas Ruttig • Events

AAN’s Sari Kouvo discusses the ICC intervention in Afghanistan – November 2017

AAN Co-director Sari Kouvo answered key questions regarding ICC’s intervention in Afghanistan.  

30 Nov 2017 Sari Kouvo • Podcasts

Afghanistan Election Conundrum (2): A tight date and a debate about technology

The Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan (IEC) has announced 7 July 2018 as the date for the next parliamentary (and district councils) elections. It has started the preparations for the elections, but has been grappling with a lack of clarity about the budget and decisions about the use of technology in the elections. These issues […]

28 Nov 2017 Ali Yawar Adili • Political Landscape

A Matter of Registration: Factional tensions in Hezb-e Islami

Hezb-e Islami has run into a legal conflict over registration. This hampers efforts to re-unite the party’s various factions after the return of its ‘historical’ leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and in the run-up to the elections planned for 2018. It also reflects internal dynamics between a more pragmatic wing of Hezb-e Islami, which is participating in […]

25 Nov 2017 Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

Questions and Answers about the International Criminal Court and its Afghanistan Investigation

On 20 November, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) finally published her request to open a formal investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Afghanistan. This means that the Prosecutor agrees with the result of the preliminary examination showing that crimes meeting the ICC gravity threshold have been committed in […]

22 Nov 2017 AAN Team • Rights and Freedoms

Far Beneath the European Average: The treatment of Afghan migrants in Bulgaria

Many Afghan migrants have been opting to travel through Bulgaria, a country bordering Turkey, on their journey to western and northern Europe. This route, while safer than a sea crossing, comes with its own terrifying experiences, as first-hand testimonies of migrants collected by different human rights organisations have shown. In Bulgaria, Afghan migrants are not […]

21 Nov 2017 Jelena Bjelica • Migration

Afghanistan Election Conundrum (1): Political pressure on commissioners puts 2018 vote in doubt

While struggling to prepare for the parliamentary (and supposedly also district council) elections scheduled for the 7 July 2018, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) are finding themselves under increasing fire from a growing number of political groups and election observer bodies. There have been allegations of financial corruption, government interference […]

18 Nov 2017 Ali Yawar Adili • Political Landscape

A Low-Risk Crop in a High-Risk Environment: Annual opium survey shows Afghan poppy cultivation at a record high

More opium was grown and more opium paste produced in Afghanistan in 2017 than in any year since the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) began monitoring in 1994. The UNODC’s annual Afghanistan Opium Survey, released today, has shown that 328,000 hectares of land were used to grow poppy this year, an increase […]

15 Nov 2017 Jelena Bjelica • Economy, Development, Environment

Qari Hekmat’s Island: A Daesh enclave in Jawzjan?

The Taleban have failed either to re-enlist or to eliminate a dissident commander in Jawzjan who, as a result of internal Taleban conflicts over territorial control and taxation, has aligned himself with Daesh. A recent military offensive – in which fighters from several provinces were mobilised – remained unsuccessful in the second half of October. […]

11 Nov 2017 Obaid Ali • War and Peace

New external publication: Conflict Portrait Afghanistan (at PRIO Oslo)

Renowned Oslo-based Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO, go to website here) has published an updated version of Thomas Ruttig’s “Conflict Portrait: Afghanistan” that, in turn, had come out (then in German) at the German Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (Federal Centre for Political Education), a main web-based collection of information for teachers, students and the general public, […]

8 Nov 2017 Thomas Ruttig • External publications