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AAN’s Ehsan Qaane on International Criminal Court’s investigation in Afghanistan – August 2017

AAN’s Ehsan Qaane answered important questions regarding International Criminal Court’s intervention in Afghanistan.

11 Aug 2017 Ehsan Qaane • Podcasts

The Assault in Sayad: Did Taleban and Daesh really collaborate?

Armed militants have overrun Afghan Local Police (ALP) and a public uprising unit’s posts in the Mirza Olang village of Sayad district in Sar-e Pul province on 6 August 2017. Dozens of civilians were reportedly killed. There is another dimension, however, that created widespread international media reporting about the incident: claims by local officials that […]

9 Aug 2017 Obaid Ali • War and Peace

At the End of a Long Curve: The fall of Janikhel

The temporary capture of Janikhel district centre by Taleban forces in late July 2017 stands out in the relatively static, mountainous and geographically and tribally fractured region of eastern Paktia and Khost. There, most district centres continue to be in government hands, while many areas outside of them are more or less under Taleban control. […]

8 Aug 2017 Fazl Rahman Muzhary • Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

The Constitutional Oversight Commission in a Standoff with President Ghani: Defending their independence or covering up mistakes?

The Afghan government has found itself in a complicated legal tangle again. After the Independent Commission for Overseeing the Implementation of the Constitution (hereafter, Constitutional Oversight Commission) dismissed its chair, the president ordered an evaluation of the Commission’s performance in a move that looks designed to curtail its independence. Although the legal basis for the […]

4 Aug 2017 Ali Yawar Adili • Ehsan Qaane • Rights and Freedoms

Thematic Dossier XV: Daesh in Afghanistan

The terrorist attack on the Iraqi Embassy in Kabul on 31 July 2017 – by a suicide car bomber and three gunmen – has once more directed attention to the activity of local groups that have declared their allegiance to the so-called Islamic State (IS, also known ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) and its local, Afghan-Pakistani […]

1 Aug 2017 AAN Team • Dossiers

The Non-Pashtun Taleban of the North (3): The Takhar case study

Despite some recent gains, the Taleban have struggled to establish a stronger foothold in the north-eastern province of Takhar. One of the reasons the movement they failed to do so have been growing tensions and power struggles among its Uzbek and Pashtun Taleban cadres. Strategically, this has left a geographical gap, preventing them from connecting […]

29 Jul 2017 Obaid Ali • War and Peace

The ‘Ankara Coalition’: Opposition from within the government

Over the past two years, the National Unity Government (NUG) has been challenged by internal power struggles, protest movements and now an ‘opposition’ coalition made up of influential officials from within. It is the first time, however, that leaders of three mainstream political parties from three major ethnic groups have joined forces – at least […]

25 Jul 2017 Ali Yawar Adili • Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

Another ISKP leader “dead”: Where is the group headed after losing so many amirs?

The US military has announced that it has killed Abu Saeed, the amir of Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), in an air strike in Kunar province earlier this month. Abu Saeed was a veteran fighter with a long militant career. His death – if confirmed – deals a considerable blow to the group, which is […]

23 Jul 2017 Borhan Osman • War and Peace

Defying Dostum: A new Jombesh and the struggle for leadership over Afghanistan’s Uzbeks

After years of attempts at inner-party reform, dissidents of Jombesh, one of Afghanistan’s major political parties, have given up. They have left and created a new party; not very surprisingly it is called the “New Jombesh.” The recent departure to Turkey – officially for ‘medical treatment’ – by ‘old’ Jombesh leader (and First Vice President) […]

19 Jul 2017 Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

UNAMA Mid-Year Report 2017: Number of civilian casualties still at “record level”

The number of civilians in the war in Afghanistan remained on “record high levels” in the first six months of 2017, with Kabul remaining the most affected city in the country. These are the two main features that stand out in UNAMA’s just released mid-year report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. It […]

18 Jul 2017 Jelena Bjelica • Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

AAN Q&A: Taleban leader Hebatullah’s new treatise on jihad

Taleban leader Hebatullah Akhundzada has published a book which provides fresh clues about his current concerns and interests. The treatise is largely a collection of quotes from Islamic literature, mostly prophetic sayings, on various aspects of jihad. It contains little of the author’s personal opinions and interpretations. Yet, the choice of themes and sources, the […]

15 Jul 2017 Borhan Osman • War and Peace

AAN Q&A: An established industry – Basic facts about Afghanistan’s opium-driven economy

Afghanistan’s unflattering label – the world’s leading producer of opium and its derivatives, morphine and heroin – has proved hard to remove. Over the last ten years, opium cultivation has increased steadily reaching unprecedented highs, whilst eradication levels have been decreasing and the country has slowly slid into more severe poverty. To see where Afghanistan […]

11 Jul 2017 Jelena Bjelica • Economy, Development, Environment

New Taleban Attacks in Kunduz: Less coordinated, still well-placed to threaten the city

In early July 2017, the Taleban carried out several simultaneous attacks against the Afghan security forces in Kunduz province, in an attempt to, once again, inch closer to the provincial centre. The attacks were less coordinated and sustained than they had been in the past years (including in 2015 when Kunduz fell and in 2016 […]

9 Jul 2017 Obaid Ali • War and Peace

Update on the Afghan Local Police: Making sure they are armed, trained, paid and exist

The Afghan Local Police (ALP) emerged out of an American special forces’ project to establish ‘community defence forces’ in 2009 and 2010. Despite being viewed by many as ‘militias in uniform’, the ALP has survived and grown to become a significant part of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), present in all but three of […]

5 Jul 2017 Kate Clark • War and Peace

From ‘Traditionalist’ Islam to ‘Modern’ Islamist Nationalism: A new AAN report about ideology in the Afghan Taleban

The Taleban’s ideology has transformed over the past two decades. While the movement once typified a ‘traditionalist’ Islam – that is, it sought to articulate and defend a particular concept of Islam found in southern Pashtun villages – it is now, in its insurgency phase, closer to forms of political Islam espoused in the Arab […]

29 Jun 2017 Alex Strick-Van-Linschoten • Political Landscape

Ideology in the Afghan Taliban: A new AAN report

The Taleban’s ideology has transformed over the past two decades. While the movement once typified a ‘traditionalist’ Islam – that is, it sought to articulate and defend a particular concept of Islam found in southern Pashtun villages – it is now, in its insurgency phase, closer to forms of political Islam espoused in the Arab […]

29 Jun 2017 Alex Strick-Van-Linschoten • Anand Gopal • Special Reports

Berlin, 5 July 2017: Book presentation with AAN

“A Society of Intervention: An essay about about conflicts in Afghanistan and other military interventions” – this is the title of a new book by Michael Daxner, Professor of Sociology, Freie Universität Berlin, former advisor to the Afghan Minister of Higher Education and prolific author on Afghanistan. It will be presented at the Berlin office […]

29 Jun 2017 Thomas Ruttig • Events

Investigating Post-2003 War crimes: Afghan Government wants “one more year” from the ICC

The ICC Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) announced on 14 November 2016 that it would “imminently” make its final decision whether to ask the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber for authorisation to open an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed since Afghanistan signed the ICC statute in 2003. The Afghan government, however, has asked […]

27 Jun 2017 Ehsan Qaane • Rights and Freedoms

In the Light of the Conflict: Photographer Andrew Quilty’s experience in Afghanistan

Afghanistan has been an inspiration for many photographers, but very few opt to base themselves in a war-torn country. Andrew Quilty, an Australian photojournalist, is an exception: he came to Afghanistan in 2013 and has been based in Kabul since. Many remember his haunting photographs taken in the ruins of the Kunduz hospital, a week […]

25 Jun 2017 AAN • Jelena Bjelica • Context and Culture

AAN Q&A: Tents and Bullets – the crackdown on the Kabul protests

The last of at least seven tents that protestors had set up in Kabul – after the horrific 31 May bomb attack and in protest against police brutality used during a march they organised on 2 June 2017 – has been removed. Afghan police forces dismantled it late in the evening of Monday, 19 June […]

23 Jun 2017 AAN Team • Political Landscape