Search results

Working in a ‘Grey Zone’: ICRC forced to scale back its work in Afghanistan

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said it has “no other choice but to drastically reduce its presence and activities in Afghanistan, in particular in the north of the country.” The decision follows three attacks on its staff in less than a year, including the worst suffered by the organisation worldwide in […]

10 Oct 2017 Kate Clark • Rights and Freedoms

Thematic Dossier XVI: Afghanistan’s War Crimes Amnesty and the International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently pondering whether to open an investigation into war crimes committed in Afghanistan since 2003, allegedly by the Taleban, the American military and CIA and Afghan government forces. In order to provide context to this possible investigation, AAN is publishing a dossier that brings together our reporting on amnesty […]

7 Oct 2017 AAN Team • Dossiers

Expanding Afghanistan’s Special Operations Forces: Doubling their success or further diluting their mission?

One of the key elements of the Afghan government’s Road Map for pushing back the insurgency is increasing the fighting capabilities of Afghan government forces. This includes the expansion of the Afghan National Army’s (ANA) praised special operations forces. However, this expansion is spurring already existing tendencies that are turning these units into shock troops, […]

2 Oct 2017 Franz J Marty • War and Peace

Bracing for Attacks on Ashura: Extra security measures for Shia mourners

The Afghan government is arming local civilians and strengthening the police presence across the country to try to protect Shia Muslim places of worship in the run-up to Ashura. The commemoration will take place this Sunday (1 October 2017). With these last-minute measures, the government is reacting to demands from the community and criticism that […]

30 Sep 2017 AAN Team • Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

AAN’s Kate Clark on Trump administration’s new policy for Afghanistan – September 2017

AAN’s Kate Clark looks at President Trump’s ‘new strategy’ for Afghanistan.  

30 Sep 2017 Kate Clark • Podcasts

Afghan Government Revenue Continues to Grow: A bright spot in a weak economy

In the first eight months of 2017, Afghan government revenues grew by nearly 13 per cent compared to the same period of 2016. This follows on from strong revenue performances in 2015 and 2016 and is one of the few positive trends in the Afghan economy, in contrast to its continuing weak overall showing in […]

27 Sep 2017 Bill Byrd • M Khalid Payenda • Economy, Development, Environment

The New Kabul ‘Green Belt’ Security Plan: More Security for Whom?

Following the devastating 31 May 2017 bomb attack in the Afghan capital, President Ashraf Ghani commissioned his security experts to develop a new security plan for Kabul. Although apparently not officially approved or fully funded yet, the plan called the ‘Zarghun Belt’ (Green Belt) was announced in mid-August. Jelena Bjelica and Kate Clark (with input […]

25 Sep 2017 Jelena Bjelica • Kate Clark • War and Peace

More Militias? Part 2: The proposed Afghan Territorial Army in the fight against ISKP

In recent days, Afghan government officials have raised the possibility of standing up a new militia force, the Afghan Territorial Army (ATA), modelled after both its Indian namesake and the Afghan Local Police (ALP). AAN understands that President Ghani is currently considering a pilot project for the ATA in the Achin and Kot districts of […]

23 Sep 2017 Borhan Osman • Kate Clark • War and Peace

More Militias? Part 1: Déjà vu double plus with the proposed ‘Afghan Territorial Army’

The Afghan government and its United States military backers are considering standing up a new militia force, an army version of the Afghan Local Police (ALP) and modelled on the Indian Territorial Army. Officials claim this is their only option if isolated communities are to be protected from insurgents. Human rights groups have reacted with […]

21 Sep 2017 Kate Clark • War and Peace

Non-Pashtun Taleban of the North (4): A case study from Jawzjan

The Taleban have put in place administrative and military institutions in northern Jawzjan province that function relatively well. The shadow administrative posts are held by local non-Pashtuns. The recruitment of Uzbeks, in particular, has proved effective for the Taleban. However, Daesh’s appearance in this Uzbek-dominated province has created concerns, not only for the local government, […]

18 Sep 2017 Obaid Ali • War and Peace

Afghan Asylum Seekers in Italy: A place of temporary respite

The number of Afghan asylum seekers in Italy has been steadily rising over the last decade. Numbers grew particularly rapidly between 2013 and 2015 and only in recent months have they slowed down. Throughout the last ten years, not only has Italy become a fixture in the mental map of Afghan migrants, but it has […]

13 Sep 2017 Fabrizio Foschini • Jelena Bjelica • Migration

Nancy Hatch Dupree’s Last Project: Afghan History Revealed in Photographs

AAN was due to post this dispatch when we heard the news of the death of the great archivist, historian and advocate for Afghanistan, Nancy Hatch Dupree. The piece looks at Nancy’s last project, the uploading of thousands of historical photographs to the website of the Afghanistan Centre at the Kabul University (ACKU), the successor […]

10 Sep 2017 Martine van Bijlert • Kate Clark • Context and Culture

Afghan Child Migrants: Italy, the preferred country of transit?

Over 100,000 unaccompanied Afghan minors, almost all of them male and generally between 14 and 17 years of age, applied for asylum in Europe between 2008 and 2016, making Afghanistan the single largest country of origin for this group of refugees. While Germany and Sweden received by far the highest number of applications, Italy became […]

6 Sep 2017 Fabrizio Foschini • Jelena Bjelica • Migration

Happy Eid … اختر مو مبارک/عید مبارک

اختر مو مبارک/عید مبارک دافغانستان د تحلیل ګرانو شبکه د نیکمرغه لوي اختر د راسیدو له امله د افغانستان مسلمان ولس ته دزړه له کومي مبارکی وایي. هیله ده چي دلوي اختر له برګته په افغانستان ګی سولي، ثبات او روروالي تینګ شي شبکه تحلیل گران افغانستان فرا رسیدن عید قربان به مردم متدین و […]

1 Sep 2017 AAN Team • Context and Culture

Held Accountable for Torture: CIA psychologists compensate family of dead Afghan

A landmark case in the United States means that, for the first time, two of those responsible for the CIA’s post-2001 torture programme, have been held accountable in the courts. Much of this torture programme was carried out on Afghan soil. The two psychologists who designed and implemented the programme, have paid compensation to two […]

29 Aug 2017 Kate Clark • Rights and Freedoms

AAN on Afghanistan podiums: Stuttgart 30/8, Berlin 4/9, 20/9

It is general election campaign time in Germany (the new Bundestag is to be elected on 24 September) and Afghanistan’s situation is making it into the discussion again, mainly related to refugee movements and the internal security situation. Chancelor Angela Merkel has just told daily taz in an extensive interview: “We should not send the […]

29 Aug 2017 Thomas Ruttig • Events

Afghanistan’s New Law on Freedom of Assembly: Limiting the space to demonstrate

A new law on freedom of assembly is under consideration in Afghanistan. The National Security Council (NSC) decided to replace the current Law on Gatherings, Demonstrations and Strikes (hereafter called the Assembly Law) after the deadly explosion which targeted protesters in the Deh Mazang area of Kabul on 23 July 2016. A draft of the […]

26 Aug 2017 Ehsan Qaane • Rights and Freedoms

“Not nation-building,” but “killing terrorists”: Trump’s ‘new’ strategy for Afghanistan

The American president’s long-awaited announcement on United States policy in Afghanistan has finally been made: more troops (number unspecified) and no end-date to the US deployment; fighting “to win” (defined only as preventing a Taleban take-over), aiming at “killing terrorists” and not “nation-building”; new, unspecified threats against Pakistan to stop supporting the Taleban and a […]

23 Aug 2017 Kate Clark • International Engagement

The Ghost of Najibullah: Hezb-e Watan announces (another) relaunch

A new attempt is underway to relaunch Hezb-e Watan, the ruling party that was revamped by President Najibullah in 1990 when he renamed the PDPA and tried to shed it’s communist past. Although the intention is to bring together an important segment of the former leftist forces in Afghanistan, the relaunch also has the potential […]

21 Aug 2017 Thomas Ruttig • Ali Yawar Adili • Political Landscape

War and Exile Through the Musicians’ Eye: Professor John Baily’s account of four decades of Afghan music (book review)

 “Music is essential for the very survival of man’s humanity.” In the opening lines of his book ‘War, Exile and the Music of Afghanistan’, John Baily motivates his research with this quote from fellow ethnomusicologist John Blacking. For the author, who spent more than four decades researching and performing the music of Afghanistan alongside Afghan […]

16 Aug 2017 Fabrizio Foschini • Context and Culture