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“The US’s Greatest Strategic Failure”: Steve Coll on the CIA and the ISI

“Directorate S” is Steve Coll’s second major study of the CIA’s role in recent Afghan wars. While “Ghost Wars” chronicled the years 1979-2001, “Directorate S” – referring to a subdivision of Pakistan’s inter-services intelligence directorate that covers Afghanistan – takes up the story in 2001 and follows it through to 2016. AAN Advisory Board member […]

23 Jul 2018 Ann Wilkens • Regional Relations

Enemy Number One: How the Taleban deal with the ALP and uprising groups

It is one of the few ‘truths’ of the Afghan insurgency that the Taleban hate arbaki– their term for locally-recruited defence forces, primarily the Afghan Local Police and uprising groups.These forces have always been a mixed bag, with some abusing the local population or captured by ethnic, factional or criminal interests. However, especially where they […]

19 Jul 2018 Borhan Osman • Kate Clark • War and Peace

UNAMA Mid-Year Report on Civilian Casualties: Highest number of deaths on record

UNAMA has released its mid-year assessment of the harm done to civilians in the Afghan conflict. It found that more civilians were killed in the first six months of 2018 than in any year since 2009 when UNAMA started systematic monitoring. This was despite the Eid ul-Fitr ceasefire, which all parties to the conflict apart […]

15 Jul 2018 Kate Clark • War and Peace

Graft and Remilitarisation: A look back at efforts to disarm, demobilise, reconcile and reintegrate

Even before the Eid truce suddenly made a peace process in Afghanistan imaginable, international civilian and military circles were wondering what they could do to support one. The government, the High Peace Council (HPC) and donors are also currently negotiating future funding for the HPC. It seems a good moment, says AAN’s Kate Clark, to […]

12 Jul 2018 Kate Clark • War and Peace

AAN’s Doris Buddenberg and Jelena Bjelica on opium in Afghanistan – July 2018. Episode: 1

Member of AAN’s advisory board and also, the Former Resident Representative of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Afghanistan Doris Buddenberg and AAN’s Jelena who also worked with the UNODC between 2010-14. Together they discuss the role on opium in Afghanistan.

9 Jul 2018 AAN Guests • Podcasts

The Afghanistan Election Conundrum (9): The 2010 Ghazni spectre rears its head again

Protests continue in front of the Independent Election Commission’s office in Ghazni, though it was able to reopen on 27 June following a 63-day sit-in protest at its gates that shut it down, stymying election preparations throughout the province. This comes despite the IEC’s legally problematic about-face to split Ghazni province’s electoral constituencies for the […]

5 Jul 2018 Ali Yawar Adili • Political Landscape

The Eid Ceasefire: What did (some of the) people think?

Coverage of the Eid ceasefire mainly focussed on the most spectacular consequence, the mass fraternisation between combatants. AAN researchers wanted to try to understand what civilians thought about the truce and what sort of Eid holiday they had enjoyed – or not. We interviewed ten Afghans, four women and six men, to try to find […]

29 Jun 2018 AAN Team • Context and Culture

AAN’s Francesc Vendrell and Thomas Ruttig on reaching out to Taliban in 2000 – June 2018. Episode: 2

AAN’s co-director Kate Clark in discussion with Chairman of AAN’s advisory board and also, the Former UN and EU Special Representative for Afghanistan Francesc Vendrell and AAN’s co-director Thomas Ruttig. Both Francesc and Thomas were part of the UN mission before 9/11 and they share their experience of reaching out to Taliban for peace talks.  

28 Jun 2018 AAN Guests • Podcasts

Understanding Hurdles to Afghan Peace Talks: Are the Taleban a political party?

Following his February 2018 offer of peace talks to the Taleban, President Ashraf Ghani proposed that they run as a political party in the upcoming elections. In 2011, his predecessor, Hamed Karzai, had offered something different, that the government would support the Taleban’s recognition by the United Nations Security Council as a “party to the […]

27 Jun 2018 Khalilullah Safi • Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

Mass Deportations of Afghans from Turkey: Thousands of migrants sent back in a deportation drive

In a recent television appearance, the Turkish Interior Minister, Suleyman Soylu, said that 15,000 Afghans have been sent back home from Turkey. While it is likely that this number has been exaggerated, there is no doubt that in April and May of 2018, thousands of Afghan migrants were sent back on charter flights from Turkey […]

21 Jun 2018 Amy Pitonak • Migration

The Eid Ceasefire: Allowing Afghans to imagine their country at peace

Ceasefires by the government, the Taleban and the United States over the Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Fitr has partially ended with the Taleban ordering their fighters back to “normal operations.” However, the three-day truce resulted in an unprecedented peaceful movement of fighters and soldiers into territories controlled by the other. The media was full of […]

19 Jun 2018 Kate Clark • War and Peace

Eid Mubarak from AAN to All Our Readers

The AAN team would like to wish a joyful and peaceful Eid al Fitr to friends and readers, to all Muslims around the world and particularly to the people of Afghanistan. This year, as the Eid ceasefire in Afghanistan begins, there will be more space for festivities around the country. As AAN has reported before, Afghans celebrate the […]

15 Jun 2018 AAN Team • Context and Culture

How to Fight the Booming Opiate Economy? Harsher and progressive laws, but to no avail

The opiate economy, as measured by the farm-gate value of opium, together with revenues from heroin production and trafficking of opiates to the Afghan borders, has become a crucial component of the Afghan economy, a recently released UNODC socio-economic survey found. This has evolved after years of increasing opium cultivation in the country. But, what […]

14 Jun 2018 Jelena Bjelica • Economy, Development, Environment

Call for Bids (or Proposals) Website Design, Development, Hosting and Maintenance for the Afghanistan Analysts Network

The Afghanistan Analysts Network is a non-profit, independent policy research organisation, established in 2009. It aims to bring together the knowledge, experience and drive of experts to better inform policy and to increase the understanding of Afghan realities. It is driven by engagement and curiosity and is committed to producing independent, high quality and research-based […]

11 Jun 2018 Sudhansu Verma • Events

Peace (hopefully) for a few days: A ceasefire for Eid as Helmand marchers approach Kabul

Afghans may, just possibly, have a happier Eid than in previous years. The government, the Taleban and the United States military have all called temporary ceasefires. Meanwhile, seven marchers for peace, who set off from Helmand on 13 May have been walking towards Kabul in temperatures of more than 40 degrees while keeping the Ramadan […]

11 Jun 2018 Ali Mohammad Sabawoon • War and Peace

Why Farah?  A short history of the local insurgency (II)

The Taleban have been a persistent and growing force in Farah since 2001, rebuilding their strength quietly after the US invasion and then seizing territory in remote districts. Insurgents now challenge pro-government figures for control of valuable trade and smuggling routes, assisted by the disarray among their opponents as the provincial government is hobbled by […]

7 Jun 2018 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

AAN’s Francesc Vendrell and Thomas Ruttig on reaching out to Taliban in 2000 – June 2018. Episode: 1

AAN’s co-director Kate Clark in discussion with Chairman of AAN’s advisory board and also, the Former UN and EU Special Representative for Afghanistan Francesc Vendrell and AAN’s co-director Thomas Ruttig. Both Francesc and Thomas were part of the UN mission before 9/11 and they share their experience of reaching out to Taliban for peace talks.  

6 Jun 2018 AAN Guests • Podcasts

Surrounding the Cities: The meaning of the latest battle for Farah (I)

An attack on Farah city had long been feared. For years now, the Taleban have been taking control of the provincial capital’s outlying districts and inching their way towards the central hub. For a few days in mid-May, it looked as though the Taleban were about to take Farah city, which would have been their […]

6 Jun 2018 Ali Mohammad Sabawoon • Obaid Ali • Rohullah Sorush • Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

Multi-panel discussion at the U.S. Institute of Peace

The Long Search for Peace in Afghanistan – Top-Down and Bottom-Up Efforts AAN’s co-director Kate Clark will be speaking at the the U.S. Institute of Peace on Thursday, June 7 during a multi-panel discussion on practical steps for the search for peace in Afghanistan. The event will examine the issue from two crucial perspectives: the top-down effort […]

5 Jun 2018 Sudhansu Verma • Events

How to End the Afghan War? A new publication on peace reviewed

A new short book-length report, “Incremental peace in Afghanistan” looks at what is needed to end the Afghan conflict. It explores the many drivers towards the war continuing – external backing for both sides, the war economy and basic persisting disputes about power-sharing – but also details what could drive a peace process – the […]

2 Jun 2018 Kate Clark • War and Peace