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Agreement between the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the Islamic Republic Of Afghanistan – October 2014

Agreement between the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the Islamic Republic Of Afghanistan on the status of NATO forces and NATO personnel conducting mutually agreed NATO-led activities in Afghanistan.     

6 Oct 2014 admin • International documents on Afghanistan

U.S.- Afghan Bilateral Security Agreement – October 2014

Security and Defense Cooperation Agreement between the United States and Islamic Republic Of Afghanistan 

6 Oct 2014 admin • International documents on Afghanistan

Three Birds with One Stone: Signing the BSA and NATO SOFA to project reliability

By signing long-delayed security agreements with the US and NATO on the second day of its existence (30 September 2014), the new Afghan leadership has hit at least three birds with one stone. It has projected an image of itself as reliable to Afghans and to its international partners, and it has secured an important […]

6 Oct 2014 Kate Clark • Thomas Ruttig • International Engagement

A Very Happy Eid-e Qurban!

Here at AAN, we’d like to wish all our readers a very happy Eid-e Qurban and that the upcoming year – and the long-awaited new government – may bring peace and stability to Afghanistan. For those who wish to learn more about Afghan Eid customs, have a look at this report about Eid sacrifices for Eid-e […]

4 Oct 2014 AAN Team • Context and Culture

The ‘Other Guantanamo’ (9): Bagram prison to close with BSA, 13 foreign detainees left

The US-Afghan Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), now officially called the Security and Defence Cooperation Agreement, a copy of which AAN has obtained, says the US shall not “maintain or operate detention facilities in Afghanistan.” It appears then, that the US foreign detention facility at Bagram, often referred to as the ‘other Guantanamo’, will close by […]

2 Oct 2014 Kate Clark • International Engagement

14-16 Oct 2014, SCA hosting AAN in Sweden

On invitation of the prestigious Swedish Committee for Afghanistan – one of the longest engaged NGOs in the country – AAN co-director Thomas Ruttig will be in a number of public events discussing current events and results of the post-2014 international intervention in Afghanistan. They will take place in three Swedish cities, at Lund, Malmö […]

2 Oct 2014 Thomas Ruttig • Events

Elections 2014 (53): Ghani sworn in as Afghanistan’s new president

Afghanistan finally has a new president – and a chief executive officer (CEO). Ashraf Ghani’s first act after being sworn in was to sign a decree establishing the new position of CEO and then appointing to it his bitter election rival and now partner in government, Abdullah Abdullah, who was thereby enabled to also take […]

30 Sep 2014 Kate Clark • Political Landscape

Elections 2014 (52): The not yet officially announced results – electoral maths with unknowns

After over five months, Afghanistan has finally an election result … kind of. In a remarkable step, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced the winner of the run-off on 21 September 2014, but did not release the results – apparently one of Abdullah’s unbending conditions for reaching a final agreement on the national unity government. […]

28 Sep 2014 Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

Karzai struggles against foreign detentions – state releases Taleban?

In the last weeks of his presidency, President Hamed Karzai has again been trying to eradicate the last traces of foreign involvement in detentions, sending a commission to investigate the so-called Tor Jail, an American interrogation facility on Bagram airbase, and reactivating the Afghan Review Board, which had been sifting detainees transferred by the US […]

25 Sep 2014 Kate Clark • Rights and Freedoms

The ‘National Unity Government’ (NUG) deal (full text)

As emailed to journalists by the US Embassy on 21 September 2014; articles of the constitution cited in the agreement are given after the text (added by AAN) Agreement between the Two Campaign Teams Regarding the Structure of the National Unity Government This period in Afghanistan’s history requires a legitimate and functioning government committed to […]

21 Sep 2014 AAN • Afghan government documents

Elections 2014 (51): Finally, a deal, but not yet democracy

After more than three months of audits and behind-the-scenes negotiation, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah signed a deal today to set up a government of national unity. The election ‘result’ was announced a couple of hours later, but the Independent Election Commission (IEC) declined to give any figures. It had been clear, all along, that […]

21 Sep 2014 Kate Clark • Political Landscape

Elections 2014 (50): Experience with ‘governments of national unity’ elsewhere

In hindsight, it is difficult to find out who first had the idea of Afghanistan having a ‘government of national unity’ (GNU) as the way out of the Afghan electoral deadlock. Currently, however, it is promoted by almost all the international players and, at least in words – an agreement how to implement it is […]

16 Sep 2014 Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

Elections 2014 (49): Still deadlock, make or break

It has become difficult to write about the Afghan elections, not because nothing happens, but because it rarely amounts to anything significant enough to move things on. There are talks between the candidates, press conferences with little news, an audit nearing completion, phone calls from the American president, rumours and unease. The optimism of the […]

14 Sep 2014 Kate Clark • Political Landscape

Elections 2014 (48): Key documents underwriting the electoral audit

While the Abdullah team has already dismissed both the audit and its outcome, the IEC still needs to finalise the process to arrive at a new result. As a background to the audit and its tumultuous history, AAN has gathered a number of key documents in one place. These include the three main IEC decisions […]

11 Sep 2014 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

The Study and Understudy of Afghanistan’s Ethnic Groups: What we know – and don’t know

From voting blocs to the share of power in government ministries to the composition of the insurgency, references to ethnic groups are frequently made in reporting and analysis. Accurate analysis requires a careful look at the complicated social lives and local politics in which members of these ethnic groups operate. But what is actually known […]

10 Sep 2014 Christian Bleuer • Political Landscape

Elections 2014 (47): Audit enters its final precarious phase

While the two teams are trying to revive the political negotiations, the electoral audit is both nearing its end –with around 95 per cent of the ballot boxes reviewed– and moving into its most critical phase: deciding on the findings and arriving at a new result. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has already convened five […]

4 Sep 2014 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

Taleban Closing in on the City: The next round of the tug-of-war over Kunduz

Within the past two months, the Taleban have managed to secure additional territory around the provincial capital of Kunduz and have been closing in on the city itself. They also gained nearly full control over several districts of the province. On 12 August and then again around 22 August, the ANSF conducted operations. Authorities claimed […]

2 Sep 2014 Lola Cecchinel • War and Peace

Book Excerpt: Scenes of Afghan History – Hamed Karzai before 2001

As many influential Pashtuns, in the country and the diaspora, the Karzai family – and Hamed Karzai himself – offered support to the Taleban after they emerged in 1994 but were rejected by the movement’s leadership. They turned against them and – after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 – made overtures to the ‘Northern Alliance’ […]

1 Sep 2014 Bette Dam • Context and Culture

With a Little Help From His Friends: A new biography of Hamed Karzai

With only a few days left in the last of Karzai’s two 5-year tenures as head of state (the inauguration of his – still unknown – successor has just been postponed again), Dutch journalist Bette Dam presents the reviewed and updated English version of her biography of the politician who has shaped Afghanistan’s last 14 […]

1 Sep 2014 Thomas Ruttig • Context and Culture

Elections 2014 (46): Déjà vu – Abdullah pulls out, process continues

What has the Abdullah team been playing at, pulling out of the audit again? Hard to say – but it is a risky all-or-nothing gamble, writes Martine van Bijlert. She summarises what has been happening over the past week, looking at the candidates’ behaviour and possible motives behind their strategies, but also at the ‘progress’ […]

30 Aug 2014 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape