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Joint Statement, 27 March 2014 – Quadrilateral Summit between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Republic of Tajikistan

To read the joint statement of the Quadrilateral Summit of the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, H.E. Mr. Hamid Karzai, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H.E. Mr. Hassan Rouhani, the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, H.E. Mr. Mamnoon Hussain and the President of the Republic of Tajikistan H.E. […]

20 Nov 2014 admin • International documents on Afghanistan

Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2014 (Afghanistan Chapter)

World Report 2014 is Human Rights Watch’s 24th annual review of human rights practices around the globe. It summarizes key human rights issues in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide, drawing on events from the end of 2012 through November 2013. The Afghanistan chapter of the report can found on Human Rights Watch’s website here.

20 Nov 2014 admin • Human Rights

After the Election Is Before the Election: The dilemma with the 2015 parliamentary vote date

 The Afghan constitution stipulates that the next parliamentary elections must be held before June 2015. Until a few days ago, however, most Afghan and international actors seem to have tacitly agreed that the constitutional date cannot be met. But during a conference on 16 November, the new president’s legal advisor stated that Ashraf Ghani is […]

19 Nov 2014 Ehsan Qaane • Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

The 2014 Afghanistan Analyst Bibliography

Christian Bleuer has compiled a bibliography that is grouped by subject, which includes  books, chapters within books, journal articles, NGO, research institute and government reports. This bibliography deals with mostly English-language sources. However, this do include some sources in Russian, German and French. This bibliography covers the topics such as; current events, recent history, Islam, war, […]

17 Nov 2014 Christian Bleuer • AAN Bibliography

2 Dec 2014: AAN at Podium in German Bundestag

AAN’s co-director Thomas Ruttig is one of the participants of a public podium discussion at the German Bundestag, under the title “Afghanistan – Which Options for Further Engagement of the International Community?“ on 2 December 2014 in Berlin, organised by the Green party’s Bundestag faction. Day: 2 December 2014 Time: 6:30 – 8:30pm Venue: German […]

17 Nov 2014 Thomas Ruttig • Events

Messages in Chalk: ‘Islamic State’ haunting Afghanistan?

Rumours of the presence of Islamic State (IS) elements in Afghanistan have repeatedly made it into the media over recent months, sparking public debate and adding to the anxiety about what course the insurgency might take. AAN researcher Borhan Osman says that IS has support among limited numbers of Afghan radical youth – although even […]

17 Nov 2014 Borhan Osman • War and Peace

Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way to Go Online: Afghanistan’s youth and new media

Afghanistan’s mobile phone sector has made great strides and is often named as one of the success stories of post-2001 reconstruction. Although the immediate economic benefit for users is debatable, it has opened new possibilities for Afghans to communicate outside of the all-encompassing social control, particularly for women. But internet access has not kept pace […]

13 Nov 2014 Theresa Falke • Context and Culture

Handing Over Alive: Whither Afghanistan’s political transition?

When President Hamed Karzai left office after the completion of his two constitutional terms and handed over to President Muhammad Ashraf Ghani, as he now officially prefers to be called, this was widely called the ‘first peaceful political transition’ – read: without violence or the head of state being immediately killed – in a very […]

9 Nov 2014 Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

More bilateral than multilateral effects: The Afghanistan conference in China

The fourth foreign ministerial conference of the Afghanistan-centred Heart of Asia/Istanbul process in Beijing on 31 October 2014 demonstrated a lack of progress in the regional cooperation in many respects, from its organisation to the funding. Nevertheless, it produced a few, rather mixed, results. These include, at a minimum, developments in Sino-Afghan relations and in Sino-American […]

7 Nov 2014 S Reza Kazemi • Regional Relations

27 Nov 2014: “Afghanistan – Leap in the Dark” (AAN in Dessau, Germany)

This is the title of a public presentation by AAN Co-Director Thomas Ruttig that will take place on 27 November 2014 in Dessau (Germany). „Nothing is good in Afghanistan.“ With this sentence in her New Year’s sermon for 2010 then chairperson of the Council oft he Evangelical Church in Germany, Margot Käßmann, triggered a harsh […]

4 Nov 2014 Thomas Ruttig • Events

A new Afghan Shia Leader: Return to quietism versus political Islam?

A new leader is emerging in Afghanistan’s Shia community, one who so far has chosen to abstain from any presence or involvement in the religious or political affairs of the country. Ayatollah Mohammad Eshaq Fayaz is being supported by Afghan Shia – among them rather influential figures such as Second Vice President Sarwar Danish – […]

2 Nov 2014 Qayoom Suroush • Political Landscape

Elections 2014 (54): Provincial council results creaking under the weight of manipulation

The provincial council vote is finally over. It has been fully overshadowed by the drawn-out and contentious presidential election – as could be expected and has been the case in the past as well. Attention dwindled as election fatigue crept in, which meant that its separate audit and complaints processes were almost exclusively followed by […]

29 Oct 2014 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

On the Road through Beijing (and Kathmandu): The new Afghan leadership’s attempts to engage with Asia

Compelled by widening economic and other challenges, the new Afghan government seems determined to diversify Afghanistan’s foreign relations by slowly forging stronger economic and political ties with countries in the region. For this purpose, it has at least two cards to play: the country’s geographic position as a corridor for regional trade and its natural […]

29 Oct 2014 S Reza Kazemi • Regional Relations

Security in Kunduz Worsening Further: The case of Khanabad

Kunduz has had the worst security environment of any province in the north for the past few years. And within this province there are several districts that are particularly notable for the intractable conflicts raging within them. One notable area in this regard is Khanabad district, where government forces, nominally pro-government militias, illegal armed groups […]

28 Oct 2014 Christian Bleuer • Obaid Ali • War and Peace

The New Gangs of Herat: How young Afghans turn away from their community

In the city of Herat, an increasing number of young people drop out of school, form petty gangs, become drug addicts and generally have problems with their community. Many of these youth are also connected to friends abroad with several of them migrating to Iran, Europe and Australia to escape the local community, and recently […]

24 Oct 2014 S Reza Kazemi • Context and Culture

From ‘Slavers’ to ‘Warlords’: Descriptions of Afghanistan’s Uzbeks in western writing

From the early 1800s to the present day, western writers have explored Afghanistan either in person or from a distance, their publications providing a view of Afghanistan’s governments and people to the wider audience in Europe, the United States and the west. However, this view is distorted in many ways. One noticeable case in this […]

17 Oct 2014 Christian Bleuer • Context and Culture

The ‘Other Guantanamo’ (10): Bagram closing: Lawyers worried about ‘ghost detainees’ (an update)

Pakistani lawyers have told AAN they fear that when the United States closes its detention facility at Bagram at the end of the year, there may still be ‘ghost detainees’, men whose names, identities – and fate – remains unknown to the outside world. Since the earliest days of the war, the United States has […]

14 Oct 2014 Kate Clark • Rights and Freedoms

The Start into the Better Governance Marathon: Ghani’s first days

New president Ashraf Ghani has proven himself a man intent on not losing time – after so much of it had been lost in post-electoral counting, auditing and political wrangling since April 2014. As opposed to the habits of the Karzai era, the Afghan government did not go into hibernation over the recent Eid-e Qurban […]

11 Oct 2014 Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

To Syria, not Afghanistan: Central Asian jihadis ‘neglect’ their neighbour

Since the American and Northern Alliance defeat of the Taleban and their Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) allies in northern Afghanistan in late 2001, the arrival of would-be fighters from the former Soviet countries of Central Asia to Afghanistan has been a very small trickle. And yet, over the last year, the number of Central […]

8 Oct 2014 Christian Bleuer • Regional Relations

Warlords, Religious Leaders, Insurgents: Three external publications

  For the London-based Tony Blair Faith Foundation, Thomas Ruttig analysed the relationship between Islamic religion and politics in Afghanistan through the phases of internal conflict over modernisation and armed conflict, starting with the 1970s. He starts with the analysis that Afghan society, before the Soviet occupation, was religiously conservative, with liberal urban enclaves and […]

7 Oct 2014 Thomas Ruttig • External publications