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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 […]

Thomas Ruttig • Events

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 […]

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 […]

Obaid Ali • Christian Bleuer • Sayed Asadullah Sadat • War and Peace

Casual labour in Badakhshan. Cash work, rather than income from agriculture, is key for many families in rural areas, but work is scarce. (Adam Pain 2011)

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 […]

Adam Pain • Economy, Development, Environment

Past as Prologue? What the parliamentary election results tell us about the September presidential election

To better understand the influences that will shape the outcome of the upcoming presidential election, guest author Scott Worden (with input from Colin Cookman)* analyses recent voter registration patterns, as well as voting patterns from the last parliamentary election, in October 2018. He found large differences between provinces and regions – in security conditions, rates […]

Scott Warden • Political Landscape

Kandahar from Razeq to Tadin (2): The collapse foretold that did not happen

After the assassination in October 2018 of Kandahar’s powerful police chief and ruthless anti-Taleban strongman, General Abdul Razeq, it was feared that the security regime he had installed in central parts of the province might break down without him and the Taleban might capitalise on this. Although fighting has since increased, the feared collapse has […]

Ali Mohammad Sabawoon • Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

Kandahar from Razeq to Tadin (1): Building the ‘American tribe’

After the assassination in October 2018 of Kandahar’s powerful police chief and ruthless anti-Taleban strongman, General Abdul Razeq, it was feared that the security regime he installed in central parts of the province might break down without him and the Taleban might capitalise on it. Although fighting has since increased, the feared collapse has not […]

Ali Mohammad Sabawoon • Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

AAN’s Eid al-Adha greetings – in a difficult time for Afghans

سره له دي چي ډیری افغانان یو  غملړلی اختر لري او  په وروستیو کې يې د خونړیو پېښو له امله خپل  خپلوان او دوستان  یا له لاسه ورکړي او یا هم ټپیان شوي دي.د افغانستان د تحلیلګرانو شبکه هیله لري چي د لوی اختر په را رسیدو او د قربانیو او حاجیانو د دعاوو په   برکت […]

AAN • Context and Culture

Nad-e Ali poppy farmer

Thematic Dossier XXIII: Afghan drugs – opium, cannabis and meth

Since AAN was established ten years ago, drugs have often featured in our reporting, both directly and indirectly. Drugs and counter-narcotics efforts are not a priority for either Afghan politicians or foreign donors at this time. However, for anyone seeking to understand Afghanistan’s economy, people’s livelihoods and the political economy of elections, appointments and insurgency, […]

AAN Team • Dossiers

A labourer in Nad-e Ali

Local Drug Markets Normalised, More Mass Treatment for Addicts, a Ministry Dissolved: A look at recent drug trends

Two new reports – UNODC’s annual survey and a scrutiny by SIGAR of US-funded drug treatment programmes – have revealed new trends in the drug industry in Afghanistan. Opium sales locally look to be increasingly normalised, and those with skills in harvesting the crop are doing well, even while farmers’ incomes have fallen. AAN’s Jelena […]

Jelena Bjelica • Economy, Development, Environment

Lizards far from home. Some of the specimens brought back from Afghanistan in 1972 and now part of the Belgrade collection of lizards from Afghanistan at the Siniša Stanković Institute for Biological Research at the University of Belgrade. Photo: Jelena Bjelica

Lizards of Afghanistan: An unknown collection discovered in Serbia

In the summer of 1972, Serbian ornithologist Voislav Vasić travelled to Afghanistan and brought back a collection of lizards. It was a favour to a herpetologist (specialist in reptiles and amphibians) colleague. The collection, practically forgotten since has been rediscovered and re-examined by a Czech herpetologist Daniel Jablonski who published a paper with Serbian colleagues […]

Jelena Bjelica • Context and Culture

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