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Kabul Duck Alert 2: Pictures of birds and birdwatchers at the Kol-e Hashmat Khan wetland

The springtime migration of birds over Afghanistan is in full swing. The Kol-e Hashmat Khan wetland in south Kabul is an internationally important site for tired waterbirds to stop and rest, and build up their strength. Soon, they’ll be heading north again, crossing the Hindu Kush mountains to reach their summer breeding grounds in Central […]

25 Apr 2016 Kate Clark • Context and Culture

Kabul Duck Alert: Afghan capital still important stopover for migrating waterbirds

It is springtime which means birds in great numbers are migrating northwards over Afghanistan. The wetland in the south-east of Kabul city, Kol-e Hashmat Khan, is an internationally important place for water birds to rest and recuperate before taking back to the air and resuming their flight over some of the world’s highest mountain ranges. […]

24 Apr 2016 Kate Clark • Context and Culture

A Shaken City: On the Taleban‘s truck-bomb attack in Kabul

The explosion which shook Kabul on 19 April 2016 was so large  its reverberation could be felt throughout almost the entire city. All that day, and the next, the death toll continued to rise. Official figures currently stand at 68 killed and 347 injured, but the real numbers are likely to be higher. The scale of the […]

21 Apr 2016 Martine van Bijlert • War and Peace

Under the Mountain: A pre-emptive Taleban spring offensive in Shindand

Throughout March 2016, Shindand district in Herat province witnessed heavy fighting. Clashes between two rival insurgent groups were followed by a string of ANSF military operations. With substantial help from Quetta, the local pro-Mansur Taleban group has swept away a pro-Rasul outfit that had recently proved less aggressive towards the government. This new outbreak of […]

20 Apr 2016 Fabrizio Foschini • War and Peace

Education and Health Care at Risk: UN report paints grim picture of post-transition Afghanistan

A new UN report highlights how access to healthcare and education in Afghanistan, particularly for children, is being increasingly compromised by violence, threats, intimidation and abuse of facilities. The number of verified incidents over the last three years (2013-2015) in particular shows an increase in recorded incidents of threats and intimidation, as well as a continued […]

18 Apr 2016 AAN Team • Rights and Freedoms

Security Jam – 2016 (April 25 – 28)

The Security Jam is a global brainstorming session on today’s security challenges. The Jam — spanning topics from development and human rights to security and defence — unfolds entirely in writing between April 25th and 28th. The Jam will feed into the EU’s thinking on a new Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy and into NATO’s […]

18 Apr 2016 admin • Events

Operation Omari: Taleban Announced 2016 Spring Offensive

The Taleban made their yearly spring offensive announcement on 12 April 2016. The statement attributed to Taleban leadership council (Rahbari Shura) named the offensive “Operation Omari,” in honour of the movement’s late leader and provides clues with regard to both the Taleban’s plans and the way they wish to present themselves. Of particular note are the […]

14 Apr 2016 AAN Team • Borhan Osman • War and Peace

Were British Police Involved in Targeted Killings? New report presents fresh evidence

The allegation that a British civilian policing body, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), helped draw up lists of Afghans for targeted killings in ISAF’s ‘kill or capture’ strategy in Afghanistan has re-surfaced. Two years ago, SOCA denied to a London court that it had supplied such intelligence for targeted killings in a case brought […]

11 Apr 2016 Kate Clark • Rights and Freedoms

Violence in Badakhshan Persists: what last year’s Jurm attack still tells us about insecurity in the north

On the one year anniversary of a major attack in Jurm in April 2015, and not long before the Taleban are expected to announce their new spring offensive, Badakhshis are nervously anticipating the year ahead. AAN guest author Bethany Matta revisits the attack, detailing how it happened and showing how the attack and its aftermath […]

10 Apr 2016 Bethany Matta • War and Peace

Filling NUG Vacancies: Parliament to vote on Interior Minister and Attorney General

With two international conferences that will decide about future support levels for Afghanistan at the horizon, and a surprisingly high number of key positions still held by caretakers or politically vulnerable individuals, the NUG has moved to fill two posts that are central to the government’s key undertakings: Interior Minister, which plays an important role […]

8 Apr 2016 Ehsan Qaane • Salima Ahmadi • Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape