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AAN’s Jelena Bjelica and Obaid Ali with Fabrizio Foschini on cultural history of cannabis in Afghanistan – December 2018. Episode: 3

AAN’s Jelena Bjelica and Obaid Ali with Fabrizio Foschini discusses their next dispatch tracing the cultural history of cannabis and hashish in Afghanistan.   [Powerpress]

25 Dec 2018 Fabrizio Foschini • Podcasts

The Emir of Bukhara’s Forlorn Garden: Revealing Kabul’s hidden history

Kabul is a city of secrets. An outsider needs both curiosity and patience to discover the hidden layers that lie behind mud walls or at the end of dusty lanes. This heritage is however at risk from indiscriminate demolitions and new construction, much of which is uncontrolled. The stories behind places also risk being lost, […]

23 Dec 2018 Jolyon Leslie • Context and Culture

Thematic Dossier XXI: The aftermath of the 2018 Afghan parliamentary elections

Two months after Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections on 20 October 2018, a final result is still not in view. Afghanistan’s electoral institutions remain deep in their drawn out counting phase. A number of delays have made the original plan to announce a final result yesterday, on 20 December 2018, obsolete. To maintain an overview over post-elections […]

21 Dec 2018 AAN Team • Dossiers

The 2018 Election Observed (6) in Herat: Insecurity, organisational shambles, alleged rigging

Many have praised the parliamentary elections in Herat province in the far west of Afghanistan as second only to the capital Kabul in terms of turnout. There was indeed considerable enthusiasm and determination to vote from those who could get to the polls, but they were a restricted number, mainly those living in the provincial […]

20 Dec 2018 S Reza Kazemi • Political Landscape

AAN’s Jelena Bjelica and Obaid Ali with Fabrizio Foschini on cultural history of cannabis in Afghanistan – December 2018. Episode: 2

AAN’s Jelena Bjelica and Obaid Ali with Fabrizio Foschini discusses their next dispatch tracing the cultural history of cannabis and hashish in Afghanistan.   [Powerpress]

19 Dec 2018 Fabrizio Foschini • Podcasts

AAN’s Jelena Bjelica and Obaid Ali with Fabrizio Foschini on cultural history of cannabis in Afghanistan – December 2018. Episode: 1

AAN’s Jelena Bjelica and Obaid Ali with Fabrizio Foschini discusses their next dispatch tracing the cultural history of cannabis and hashish in Afghanistan.  

17 Dec 2018 Fabrizio Foschini • Podcasts

Unheeded Warnings (1): Looking back at the Taleban attack on Ghazni

Four months after the Taleban captured large parts of the strategic and historic city of Ghazni during a five-day siege in August 2018, local people live in fear of a new onslaught. While the Taleban were ultimately pushed out – or withdrew – from the city, they remain in the suburbs and have extended their […]

16 Dec 2018 Fazl Rahman Muzhary • War and Peace

What Other Peace Processes Can Teach Afghanistan (1): Colombia’s agreement with FARC

With the renewed focus on possible peace talks in Afghanistan, it is useful to look at what can be learned from processes in other countries. Although they cannot be treated as models, they can serve as examples of what is possible and provide inspiration, ideas and a shared language. In the first dispatch of a […]

13 Dec 2018 Martine van Bijlert • War and Peace

“Förstå Afghanistan“: AAN contributed to Swedish Committee’s Afghanistan reader

The new “Förstå Afghanistan“ (Understanding Afghanistan) reader by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SAK) is out. It covers everything from Afghanistan’s history, its people, state and culture to Afghan-Swedish relations (in Swedish). It has an extensive reading list and scores of good photos. The book’s three dozen contributors include renowned Afghan, Swedish and other authors, […]

12 Dec 2018 Thomas Ruttig • External publications

How to Set up a ‘Good ALP’: The experience of Yahyakhel district, Paktika and how it became more peaceful

Yahyakhel district in Paktika province was once as pro-Taleban as it is now pro-government. The turning point came in 2011/2012, with the formation of a tribal militia, which was soon formalised into an Afghan Local Police (ALP) unit. Unlike many other ALP units, it has enjoyed local popular support and control. It has not abused […]

11 Dec 2018 Fazl Rahman Muzhary • Kate Clark • War and Peace

One Land, Two Rules (2): Delivering public services in insurgency-affected Obeh district of Herat province

The matter of who governs the district of Obeh in the east of Herat province is complicated: control of the district is divided between the Afghan government and the Taleban, and shifts in unpredictable ways. The inhabitants of the district, usually via the mediation of elders, have had to learn how to deal with both […]

9 Dec 2018 S Reza Kazemi • Economy, Development, Environment

One Land, Two Rules (1): Service delivery in insurgent-affected areas, an introduction

The Taleban today control or influence whole swathes of Afghanistan. Estimates of exactly how much vary, but in the vast majority of Afghanistan’s provinces, control is split between government and insurgency. What that means for local people in terms of services usually provided by a state is the subject of a new research project by […]

6 Dec 2018 Kate Clark • Jelena Bjelica • Economy, Development, Environment

Getting to the Steering Wheel: President Ghani’s new set of peace proposals

President Ashraf Ghani updated peace plan, presented at the Geneva Conference on Afghanistan on 28 November, the 13th international Afghanistan conference since 2001, built on the February 2018 Kabul Process proposals. Ghani foresees a five-phase approach to consultations and five years of implementation. At the same time, these proposals represent an attempt to reassert the Afghan government’s […]

4 Dec 2018 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

Taleban Attacks on Khas Uruzgan, Jaghori and Malestan (II): A new and violent push into Hazara areas

The Taleban attacks on Hazara areas in Uruzgan and Ghazni were unprecedented in their reach and led to massive displacement. The attacks indicated a clear shift in the Taleban’s behaviour towards the Hazara areas, stimulating various hypotheses about their motives. In this second part of a series of two dispatches, AAN’s Ali Yawar Adili and […]

29 Nov 2018 Ali Yawar Adili • Martine van Bijlert • War and Peace

Taleban Attacks on Khas Uruzgan, Jaghori and Malestan (I): A new and violent push into Hazara areas

In late October 2018, the Taleban pushed deeper into Hazara areas than they had ever done before. They first pursued Hakim Shujai, a notorious former Afghan Local Police (ALP) commander, into Malestan, then launched an assault on the district of Jaghori and thereafter attacked Malestan’s district centre, almost resulting in its collapse. The attacks were […]

28 Nov 2018 Ali Yawar Adili • Martine van Bijlert • War and Peace

The Geneva Ministerial Conference on Afghanistan: An agenda for peace and development?

The Afghan Government and United Nations will co-host the Geneva ministerial conference on 28 November 2018. This is the 13th high-level international conference on Afghanistan since 2001. The focus of the conference will be peace efforts and development, but it will also be an opportunity to assess the Afghan government’s reform efforts and reconfirm commitments made […]

25 Nov 2018 AAN Team • International Engagement

A Drop from Peak Opium Cultivation: The 2018 Afghanistan survey

The Afghanistan Opium Survey 2018 released today by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows decrease of a fifth in the countrywide cultivation of opium compared to the previous years. The 263,000 hectares under the cultivation in Afghanistan this year was still the second largest score for Afghanistan since the UNODC began […]

19 Nov 2018 Jelena Bjelica • Economy, Development, Environment

The 2018 Election Observed (5) in Nuristan: Disfranchisement and lack of data

Organising elections in Nuristan, one of the most remote, under-served and unknown provinces, presents a severe challenge. Most villages are far from their nearest district centre and all of the districts are under some degree of Taleban control or influence. In two districts – Mandol and Du-Ab – people were fully deprived of their right […]

17 Nov 2018 Thomas Ruttig • Jelena Bjelica • Obaid Ali • Political Landscape

The 2018 Election Observed (4) in Paktika: Pre-election fraud and relatively peaceful polling

Where Paktika has been famous for ballot stuffing and mass proxy voting in previous elections, locals claim that this election was very different. A softer Taleban stance and a new slate of candidates, they say, allowed for more extensive campaigning. And the new electoral measures prevented rigging which, as a result, the electorate – including […]

13 Nov 2018 Fazl Rahman Muzhary • Political Landscape

The 2018 Election Observed (3) in Kunduz: A Very Violent E-Day

Kunduz province faced serious security issues during and after Election Day. The turnout was far lower than expected. This was mainly due to an almost unprecedented level of Taleban violence compared to most other provinces on that day. Three districts were deprived of their rights to vote in their entirety, while six others had a […]

7 Nov 2018 Obaid Ali • Rights and Freedoms