Search results

Descent into chaos: Why did Nangarhar turn into an IS hub?

Armed groups pledging allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) have tried to establish a foothold in five of Afghanistan’s provinces, but only in Nangarhar have they succeeded. There, IS Khorasan Province (ISKP), the Afghanistan-Pakistan franchise of the Islamic State, landed on fertile ground with a fragmented insurgency, bickering provincial elites, a tradition of Salafi networks […]

27 Sep 2016 Borhan Osman • War and Peace

How to replace a bad ALP commander: in Shajoy, success and now calamity

The Afghan Local Police (ALP) commander in Shajoy district, Zabul province, Haji Gul Agha, has been killed in a Taleban ambush, along with four of his men. AAN’s Fazal Muzhary had been researching Gul Agha’s record as his was an interesting example of locals managing, with great difficulty, to get rid of an abusive ALP […]

21 Sep 2016 Fazl Rahman Muzhary • War and Peace

Who Was King Habibullah II? A query from the literature

The recent reburial of King Habibullah II – aka Habibullah Kalakani aka derogatively Bacha-ye Saqao (The Water Carrier’s Son) – that stirred up controversy and violence was another reflection of Afghanistan’s increasingly ethnicised politics. Competing narratives about historical events and the legacy of historical figures reflect deeper, underlying societal and political cleavages, both between ethnic […]

16 Sep 2016 Thomas Ruttig • Context and Culture

Herat Shorts Festival: The effects of armed conflict on children, seen through a cinematic lens

What do a 16-year high school student, a middle-aged aviation engineer, a 29-year old tenth-grader in night school and a 45-year old doctor in the Afghanistan National Border Police have in common? Not just that all of them come from the western region (Badghis or Herat), but all of them were also competitors in the first-ever […]

14 Sep 2016 Jelena Bjelica • Context and Culture

AAN Wishes Peaceful and Happy Eid al-Adha Days

دافغانستان د تحلیلګرانو شبکه د نیکمرغه لوي اختر د رارسیدو له امله ټولي اسلامي نړۍ، په ځانګري توګه د افغانستان مسلمان ولس ته دزړه له کومي مبارکی وایي. هیله ده چي دلوي اختر له برکته په افغانستان کې سوله، ثبات او ورورولي ټینګه شي. زمو‌‌‌ږ ورستۍ مقاله د لوی اختر د نمانځنې په باره کې […]

12 Sep 2016 AAN Team • Context and Culture

Afghan Exodus: Smuggling networks, migration and settlement patterns in Turkey

Turkey is both a means and an end for Afghan migrants. Many thousands of Afghans seeking better lives have come to Istanbul, the bridge between east and west, on their way to the European Union. Many thousands have stayed on and built an expatriate community that both aids and exploits those passing through. In this […]

10 Sep 2016 Noah Arjomand • Migration

Afghanistan’s National Unity Government Rift (2): The problems that will not go away

The recent public argument between Chief Executive Abdullah and President Ghani is more than an argument over appointments, management styles or how far government reforms should go. The core of the rift lies in the different views both sides have on why the National Unity Government (NUG) came into being and what this means for […]

6 Sep 2016 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

Afghanistan’s National Unity Government Rift (1): Crisis averted (for now), back to appointing commissions

Just weeks before the upcoming donor conference in Brussels on 5 October 2016, the two leaders of Afghanistan’s National Unity Government (NUG) erupted into a fierce, public argument. Chief Executive Abdullah accused President Ghani of unilateralism and called him “unfit” for his office; the president hit back implying that the rival camp was merely trying […]

6 Sep 2016 Ali Yawar Adili • Lenny Linke • Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

The Attack on the American University in Kabul (2): Who did it and why?

The attack on the American University in Kabul on 24 August 2016 was unprecedented in many respects. For the first time, a ‘complex attack’ – often reserved for high-profile and well-guarded targets – hit an educational institution. It also came in the wake of an ideological campaign by circles in the Taleban movement that had […]

5 Sep 2016 Borhan Osman • War and Peace

The Attack on the American University in Kabul (1): What happened and who the victims were

By the time the attack on the American University in Afghanistan (AUAF) in Kabul on 24 August 2016 ended, 13 people had been killed and 49 wounded, most of them students. Families looking forward to bright futures for their children have been left to bury them or are now waiting anxiously at hospital bedsides. No group […]

4 Sep 2016 AAN Team • War and Peace

Afghanistan’s Government Revenue: Continuing robust growth in the face of economic weakness

The Afghan government has continued to increase the amount it collects in revenue – by 22 per cent last year and 33 per cent in the first six months of this year. This revenue growth well exceeded expectations and projections. Thirty-seven per cent of the total revenue increase in the first half of 2016 was […]

1 Sep 2016 Bill Byrd • M Khalid Payenda • Economy, Development, Environment

Thematic Dossier XI: Insurgency and governance in Afghanistan’s northeast

Since AAN published its last collection of reports and dispatches about the insurgency in the Afghan northeast, ‘The evolution of insecurity in Kunduz’, in May 2015, there have been tumultuous events, security-wise, in that region. In terms of governance, however, matters are still as dire as they were. Indeed, it can be seen how insecurity […]

28 Aug 2016 AAN Team • Dossiers

AAN’s Thomas Ruttig at the Afghanistan Week 2016 – Oslo, Norway

The Afghanistan Week 2016 is a cooperation between the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee, the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). With the aim to bring Afghanistan to the top of the Norwegian agenda, bringing Afghan and international experts to Norway to inform and debate. When: 20th to 25th September, 2016. Where: Oslo, […]

26 Aug 2016 admin • Events

To Say It Like It Is: Norway’s evaluation of its part in the international intervention

Norway has published the first comprehensive evaluation of one country’s contribution to the international intervention in Afghanistan. The evaluation was conducted by a government-appointed commission led by Bjørn Tore Godal, a former foreign and defence minister. However, most commissioners were independent researchers. The ‘Godal report’, as it has become known, is a candid and sharp […]

23 Aug 2016 Ann Wilkens • International Engagement

Mohammad Kamin (ISN 1045) 13 years in detention

Mohammad Kamin (ISN 1045): Date of birth: 1978 Place of birth: Plasai Inzarkai village, Khost Detained 14 May 2003 (by unknown forces); transferred to Guantanamo 21 November 2003 Transferred to UAE 16 August 2016 Guantanamo Documents: Quotes from Gunatnamo documents (Assessment, Combatant Status Review Tribunal and Administrative Review Boards) can be read here. Capture Kamin, a […]

20 Aug 2016 Kate Clark • Human Rights

Obaidullah (ISN762) 14 Years in Detention

Obaidullah (ISN762): Place of Birth: Dusarak Haiderkheil Village, Khost Year of Birth: 1980-1983 (different dates given) Detained by US forces in house raid, 21 July 2002 and held in Chapman Forward Operating Base, Khost; transferred to Bagram, 2 August 2002, transferred to Guantanamo, 28 October 2002 Transferred to UAE, 16 October 2016 (Periodic Review Board) […]

20 Aug 2016 Kate Clark • Human Rights

From Guantanamo to the UAE: A scrutiny of the three Afghan transfer cases

Three of the eight remaining Afghans detained by the United States in Guantanamo have been transferred to the United Arab Emirates. The three had each spent 13 or 14 years in detention. None were captured on the battlefield, but detained after tip-offs or were handed over to the US by Afghan forces. Their files reveal […]

20 Aug 2016 Kate Clark • Rights and Freedoms

Hamidullah (ISN 1119) 13 years in detention

Hamidullah (ISN 1119): Date of birth: 1963 Place of birth: Tara Khel village, Deh Sabz, Kabul Detained 31 July 2003 by Afghan National Army which handed him over to the “National Directorate of Security (NDS) and US forces (undated); transferred to Guantanamo 21 November 2003 Transferred to UAE 14 August 2016 after Periodic Review Board […]

20 Aug 2016 Kate Clark • Human Rights

Far From Back to Normal: The Kunduz crisis lingers on

The Taleban’s recent takeover of both Qala-ye Zal and Dasht-e Archi’s district centres is the latest episode in the long-running battle for possession of Kunduz province. It follows the spectacular takeover of Kunduz’s provincial centre by insurgents in late September 2015, the hard-won recapture by pro-government forces two weeks later and the government’s unsuccessful counter-offensive […]

17 Aug 2016 Lola Cecchinel • War and Peace

Taleban in the North: Gaining ground along the Ring Road in Baghlan

The Taleban have made significant inroads in a number of strategic areas in the northern province of Baghlan over the past two years. They now pose a greater threat than ever to the Baghlan-Balkh highway, part of the Ring Road which here links Kabul to the north. The Taleban know that by blocking highways, they […]

15 Aug 2016 Obaid Ali • War and Peace