Publications

The Battle for Mamand: ISKP under strain, but not yet defeated

In recent weeks, the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) has lost a significant part of its stronghold in Nangrahar as well as several senior commanders and its overall leader, Sheikh Abdul Hasib. Its losses have been mounting steadily since early April when American and Afghan special forces intensified their campaign against the group. This included […]

23 May 2017 Borhan Osman • War and Peace

Afghan migrants, including minors, living in inhumane conditions in a Belgrade, Serbia squat. Photo: Martine van Bijlert (Nov 2016)

AAN’s Martine van Bijlert and Jelena Bjelica discuss their research work on migration. Episode: 1 – May, 2017

AAN’s Martine van Bijlert and Jelena Bjelica in conversation with Roxanna Shapour on their research on Afghan migrants.

21 May 2017 Jelena Bjelica • Podcasts

Anti-migration graffiti on the wall of the Ministry of Telecommunication in Kabul, Afghanistan. The caption on the left reads: "There is no rest in flight.” The caption on the right reads: "The real face of a smuggler” – whatever picture had been stencilled on the wall below looks to have been scrubbed out. (Photo: Fazal Muzhary, AAN 2017)

Voluntary and Forced Returns to Afghanistan in 2016/17: Trends, statistics and experiences

While hundreds of thousands of Afghans sought protection in Europe throughout 2015/16, an increasing number have been returning to Afghanistan, both voluntarily and involuntarily. The number of voluntary returnees from Europe picked up significantly throughout 2016, with additional returns in the first four months of 2017, reaching a total figure of over 8,000. By contrast, […]

19 May 2017 Thomas Ruttig • Jelena Bjelica • Migration

Daily wage labourers chatting with each other while waiting for jobs. As the number of returnees from Pakistan has increased, the chances of getting work has gone down. Some labourers told AAN that they had been waiting for weeks to get a single day’s work.

Resettling Nearly Half a Million Afghans in Nangrahar: The consequences of the mass return of refugees

Most of the 600,000 Afghans who returned from Pakistan last year chose to settle in the eastern border province of Nangrahar. This has put considerable strain on both health and education services. There has also been a boom in property prices, which has exacerbated land grabbing, already a major source of conflict in the province. […]

12 May 2017 Fazl Rahman Muzhary • Migration

Hekmatyar’s Return to Kabul: Background reading by AAN

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the notorious leader of Hezb-e Islami, returned to Kabul today. After several years of on-and-off talks, between the Afghan government and envoys of the party’s leader-in-hiding, a deal allowing his return was finally signed in September 2016. Several months of negotiations on the finer details of the deal’s implementation followed. An overview of AAN’s past […]

4 May 2017 AAN • Political Landscape

Posters celebrating the return of Gulbuddin Hetkmatyar have been put up in Kabul. Within hours, they were defaced. “I have always wanted my country free and independent,” this one says. "I think of nothing else.” (Photo: Ehsan Qaane)

Charismatic, Absolutist, Divisive: Hekmatyar and the impact of his return

One of the anti-Soviet mujahedin leaders, Mawlawi Yunus Khales, famously likened Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to a pair of trousers that had caught fire: get rid of them and be naked or keep them on and burn. Hekmatyar, Khales appeared to be saying, is too necessary to throw away and too problematic to keep close. So, what […]

3 May 2017 Borhan Osman • Political Landscape

Terrorist suspects detained and being posed for the cameras. But what will there fate be? New UN report finds a rise in the use of torture by the Afghan state against conflict-related detainees (Photo: Pahjwok)

Torture as Prevalent as Ever: New UN report finds no end to impunity for Afghan torturers

UNAMA’s latest two-yearly report on the use of torture by the Afghan state shows an increase in the proportion of conflict-related detainees who were tortured, compared to 2015, when UNAMA last reported. There has been, it said, no end to the “pervasive culture of impunity” for those carrying out torture. As AAN’s Kate Clark reports, […]

24 Apr 2017 Kate Clark • Rights and Freedoms

Afghanistan’s Record on Torture to Come under UN Scrutiny

On 25 and 26 April 2017, Afghanistan’s record on torture will be reviewed by a committee of experts under the auspices of the Convention Against Torture (CAT). The CAT Committee will hear from the government, United Nations human rights officials and NGOs before making recommendations. In the weeks leading up to the committee meeting, the government […]

21 Apr 2017 Kate Clark • Rights and Freedoms

‘Mother of All Bombs’ Dropped on ISKP: Assessing the aftermath

American and Afghan forces have arrived at the site of the massive US bomb blast that targeted a complex of tunnels and caves in Achin, Nangarhar, the stronghold of the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP), on 13 April 2017. Journalists and other independent observers have not yet been allowed to enter the area, so information […]

15 Apr 2017 Borhan Osman • Kate Clark • Martine van Bijlert • War and Peace

A sign of recent changes in the bazaar of Shamshatu, which would be more crowded before the new changes of 2016. Though the crowd in the bazaar has been considerably reduced, more people are expected to leave the camp. The possible new returns can further cause downsize to the business in the bazaar of Shamshatu camp.

Moving Out of Shamshatu: Hezb-e Islami’s refugee followers between hope of return and doubts about the peace deal

Shamshatu refugee camp, headquarters of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hezb-e Islami in Pakistan since the 1980s, is increasingly empty. Many residents, including a number of important Hezb leaders, have left for Afghanistan, encouraged to return by the peace agreement signed by Hekmatyar and President Ashraf Ghani in September 2016. The deal paved the way for the return […]

14 Apr 2017 Fazl Rahman Muzhary • Political Landscape

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