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Unrelenting on Human Rights and Democracy: An obituary for Pakistan’s Asma Jahangir

“‘Speaking truth to power’ is a phrase we often use,” wrote Raza Rumi, one of Pakistan’s leading liberal journalists, about Asma Jahangir, one of Pakistan’s most outstanding human rights and pro-democracy activists, who has died today in her home city of Lahore after heart failure. “She lived, practiced it till her last breath.” Pakistan’s Human […]

12 Feb 2018 Thomas Ruttig • Context and Culture

Afghan Victims of War Crimes Want Investigation: Hundreds of thousands apply to ICC

31 January was the deadline for victims of Afghan war crimes to share their experiences and opinions with the International Criminal Court (ICC). Based on information so far released by the ICC, the Court has received 345 representations on behalf of more than seven hundred thousand victims. These representations are important as they will factor […]

8 Feb 2018 Ehsan Qaane • Rights and Freedoms

Five Questions to Make Sense of the New Peak in Urban Attacks and a Violent Week in Kabul

Between 20 and 29 January 2018, there were five high profile attacks in major cities and districts in Afghanistan. The three by far largest ones happened in the capital Kabul. This feeds into a month-long period of such attacks that began in late December 2017. Altogether, almost 250 people, most of them civilians, were killed […]

5 Feb 2018 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

Presidential Decree on the Creation of the Afghan National Army Territorial Force

The President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Decree on the Creation of the Afghan National Army Territorial Force  February 2018 [AAN working translation] The following actions will be undertaken in order to improve the security situation, provide better security services to the people of Afghanistan, and establish the Afghan National Army Territorial Force with the aim […]

1 Feb 2018 Afghan government documents

Still Caught in Regional Tensions? The uncertain destiny of Afghan refugees in Pakistan

As this dispatch was finalised, the Pakistan government had not made any last-minute extension to the ‘Proof of Registration’ identity cards for Afghan refugees residing in the country. Those cards were due to run out on 31 January 2018. Without an extension, a huge number of people could be forced to go back to Afghanistan […]

31 Jan 2018 Jelena Bjelica • Ali Mohammad Sabawoon • Migration

More violent, more widespread: Trends in Afghan security in 2017

Continuing our look back at key developments in Afghanistan in 2017, after migration and peace talks, we come to security. Tracking trends in security has become more difficult, as more areas suffering conflict have become inaccessible and those fighting – both Afghan and international –less transparent. However, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig has identified indicators to gauge […]

29 Jan 2018 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

Words, No Deeds: 2017, another lost year for peace (talks) in Afghanistan

Despite a new offer by the Afghan government through the High Peace Council, there was not much movement toward government-Taleban talks to end the war peacefully in the past year. Both sides continue to engage in general pro-peace rhetoric, while allowing little to happen in practice. Currently, they are bogged down in a dispute over […]

24 Jan 2018 Obaid Ali • Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

Afghanistan Election Conundrum (4): New controversies surrounding the appointment of a new electoral commissioner

The need to appoint a new member of the IEC came after its chairman, Najibullah Ahmadzai, was sacked by President Ashraf Ghani on 15 November 2017. The president ordered the Selection Committee, a body responsible for shortlisting candidates for membership of the IEC and ECC, to be reconvened. The body shortlisted three candidates, from which […]

18 Jan 2018 Ali Yawar Adili • Political Landscape

From Bad to Bombing: US counter-narcotics policies in Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s opium-driven economy has been a thorn in side of its international backers, and a major challenge for fighting the insurgency and rebuilding a functioning state. Through the lens of the military side of counter-narcotic strategies, the United States and its international allies have pursued various counter-narcotics approaches, centred mainly on eradication and interdiction. However, […]

15 Jan 2018 Jelena Bjelica • International Engagement

Lost in Procedure: How a corruption case in the Afghan parliament was (not) dealt with

The lower house of the Afghan Parliament – the Wolesi Jirga – has a long-standing and unflattering reputation for corruption, which ranges from members of parliament receiving bribes for votes of confidence to arranging lucrative contracts. The latest allegation, however, was the first time that an MP had accused a fellow MP of corruption. This […]

4 Jan 2018 Jelena Bjelica • Rohullah Sorush • Political Landscape

Pressure and Peril: Afghan refugees and Europe in 2017

The number of Afghan refugees arriving on Europe’s shores this year was significantly lower than in 2015 and 2016, but the arrivals have not stopped. In 2017, there were still a few thousand Afghans making the hazardous trip across the Mediterranean to the continent, and tens of thousands more continued to be on the move inside […]

30 Dec 2017 Thomas Ruttig • Migration

“The Rédactrice Says Farewell”: A goodbye to the Afghanistan Info (1980-2017)

It is already December and time to look back at the year almost just passed. Before we come to the macro issues of Afghanistan’s political, security and socio-economic situation in 2017, we want to say “thank you” to Micheline Centlivres-Demont and Pierre Centlivres, and wish a “goodbye” to the Afghanistan Info, a bulletin of news […]

27 Dec 2017 Thomas Ruttig • Context and Culture

The Soul of Herat’s Citadel Comes Home: Reflections on an exhibition of miniatures

A historic exhibition of reproductions of miniatures has opened in the Citadel in Herat where many of the pictures were painted in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. At that time, Herat was a centre of Islamic art and culture. In the decades that followed, as dynasties fell or moved, the miniatures were scattered, eventually ending […]

21 Dec 2017 Kate Clark • Context and Culture

First external AAN publication in Dari: Ehsan Qaane on Afghanistan and the International Criminal Court

سیزده سال بعد از عضویت افغانستان در محکمه بین المللی جزایی: افغانستان در کجایی کار آن محکمه قرار دارد؟ “13 years after Afghanistan joined the International Criminal Court: Where does Afghanistan stand vis-à-vis the work of this court?” is the title of the Dari-language paper by AAN researcher Ehsan Qaane that was presented at “The Third […]

20 Dec 2017 Ehsan Qaane • External publications

Afghanistan (Konfliktporträt)

Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 18 December 2017 The latest version of the bi-annually updated portrait of the Afghan conflict by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig on this encyclopaedial website which is designed to inform teacher and pupils, particularly (in German). Go to the text here.

18 Dec 2017 Thomas Ruttig • External publications

The Afghanistan Election Conundrum (3): The dilemma of electoral constituencies

It looks increasingly unlikely that the next parliamentary (and district council) elections can be held as planned on 7 July 2018. Although the Independent Election Commission (IEC) continues its preparations for the polls, important questions remain unresolved. Due to a lack of consensus, the electoral system remains unchanged, but the IEC has been grappling with […]

17 Dec 2017 Ali Yawar Adili • Political Landscape

نگاهی به روابط محکمه بینا للی جزایی و افغانستان (A Look at ICC-Afghan relations)

 قوس1396 ,ماهنامه حقوق بشر (Human Rights Monthly, December 2017) The monthly publication of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission carries an article by AAN’s Ehsan Qaane about the relations between Afghanistan and the International Criminal Court in the context of the court’s deliberations about opening a formal investigation into alleged post-2003 war crimes in the […]

16 Dec 2017 AAN • External publications

Afghanistan Has Now a Constitutional Cabinet: Eleven minister candidates received votes of confidence

For almost a year, more than half of Afghanistan’s cabinet members were in an acting minister capacity only, putting their legitimacy into question. In late November 2017, the President finally had 12 minister candidates introduced to parliament. They faced votes of confidence on 4 December 2017. All but one – the only woman – passed. […]

9 Dec 2017 AAN Team • Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

Kuja Meri? Joel van Houdt’s street photo exhibition on Afghan migration

Joel van Houdt, an independent Dutch photojournalist, who lived in Afghanistan for several years, has recently returned to Kabul to exhibit his photography on Afghan migration. The exhibition, entitled “Kuja meri? – Where are you going?”, comprises a series of about 50 photos that focus entirely on Afghanistan’s refugees and is displayed on the outer […]

7 Dec 2017 Jelena Bjelica • Migration

The 2018 Afghan National Budget: Confronting hard realities by accelerating reforms

Afghanistan’s budget for the next financial year, 1397/2018, is markedly different from previous ones. This is a budget written to ‘international standards’, giving more information, both on 2018 and earlier years, as well as future projections, with detail at the level of ministry, project and province. The Ministry of Finance has tried to be realistic […]

5 Dec 2017 Bill Byrd • Kate Clark • Economy, Development, Environment