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Repeating Old Warnings: Brace yourselves, the elections are going to be quite a ride

Afghanistan is readying itself for its fifth election in ten years. For those who have gone through the previous rounds there is an immense sense of déjà vu: the preparations and technical discussions, the excitement surrounding the politicking, the questions asked too early (who are the frontrunners?), the attempts of international policymakers to make sense […]

5 Oct 2013 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

The ‘Other Guantanamo’ 7: Foreigners in limbo at Bagram

When wars end, military detainees have to be released. Yet at the end of 2014 when President Obama has said the war in Afghanistan will “come to an end”, it is still completely unclear what will happen to the more than 60 non-Afghans held by the United States military at Bagram Airbase. Most were detained […]

3 Oct 2013 Kate Clark • Rights and Freedoms

The Road Through Qatar: Opportunities and hurdles for a political solution in Afghanistan

Central Asia and the Caucasus, 03-04/2013 In its Afghanistan-special, the Sweden-based academic journal published an article by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig. Only abstract accessible online: “While a military solution in Afghanistan has failed, the search for a political solution that includes the insurgent Taliban movement has not yielded any significant results, despite initial U.S.-Taliban contacts in […]

1 Oct 2013 Thomas Ruttig • External publications

Dancing to Power: Getting an Afghan presidential ticket together

With less than a week to go before the deadline for registering the three-person tickets for next April’s presidential elections, still no major candidate has registered (although one, Ashraf Ghani, has resigned from his government position, a clear indication that he intends to run) and Dr Abdullah has just announced that he will register tomorrow, 1 […]

30 Sep 2013 Gran Hewad • Kate Clark • Political Landscape

Mursi in Kabul: Afghan Islamists scrutinise democracy in the wake of Egypt’s coup

A number of rallies in support of Egypt’s ousted president, Muhammad Mursi, and in solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood recently brought together Afghanistan’s diverse Islamist groups in rare unanimity of opinion. Kabul has not yet seen such a mobilisation, and with such diverse participation, caused by a political issue in another country. Pro- and anti-government Islamist […]

28 Sep 2013 Borhan Osman • Political Landscape

Death List Published: Families of disappeared end a 30 year wait for news

This week some Afghan families have finally been able to hold a fateha (mourning ceremony) for fathers, brothers and sons who disappeared more than thirty years ago. Evidence of the fate of their relatives came with the publication by the Dutch prosecutor’s office of a list of almost 5000 people killed during the first 20 […]

26 Sep 2013 Kate Clark • Rights and Freedoms

The Other Fold of the Turban: Afghanistan’s Hindus and Sikhs

Recent efforts to reserve a seat in the Wolesi Jirga (the lower house of the parliament) for the Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan have rekindled some interest in this tiny religious minority. Included in the draft of the electoral law, the issue was rejected by the parliament in July, but has been re-enforced on 3 […]

23 Sep 2013 Fabrizio Foschini • Rights and Freedoms

The Release of Mullah Baradar: What’s next for negotiations?

It has been reported that Pakistan has released the most senior Taleban it had in its custody, Mullah Abdul-Ghani Baradar. At the time of his arrest in Karachi in 2010, Baradar was the effective number two in the movement and de facto operational chief of the insurgency. Both the Pakistani and Afghan governments have said […]

21 Sep 2013 Kate Clark • War and Peace

Dismantling Human Rights in Afghanistan: The AIHRC facing a possible downgrading of status

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) “has been until now”, said Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), “a critical, credible institution.” That ‘until now’ is significant: Pillay was visiting Afghanistan partly to discuss the risk to the Commission of losing its ‘A status’ when it comes up for international […]

20 Sep 2013 Kate Clark • Sari Kouvo • Rights and Freedoms

First Reactions Negative: The new Electoral Complaints Commission

The presidential palace has announced the names of the five members of the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC), the body which will deal with any complaints about the April 2014 presidential election. It will also, along with the Independent Election Commission (IEC), rule whether the ballot was free and fair. The commissioners are Abdul Sattar Sadat, Rida […]

18 Sep 2013 Gran Hewad • Political Landscape

On Your Marks! Alliances and actors before the 2014 presidential election

Yesterday, 16 September 2013, the three-week period for registering candidates for the April 2014 presidential election started. The field of contenders will only have become clear, though, by the last day, 6 October 2013. Alliance building and political manoeuvring is continuing, as the two major camps – the supporters of President Karzai and a new opposition alliance – […]

17 Sep 2013 Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

Football Victory II: A night and a day of celebrations

It was a burst of massive happiness, a moment of sheer bliss and pride, something few Afghans have experienced much of in the past and thus even more powerful: only moments after Afghanistan won the South Asian Football Federation Championship, defeating India with 2:0, waves of people filled the streets of Kabul and many other […]

12 Sep 2013 AAN Team • Context and Culture

Football Victory I: Lions beating Tigers – the match report

The jubilation of football players who have just won a cup final is similar the world over, but neither Bayern Munich, who won this year’s European Champions League, or Spain, who won the last World Cup, celebrated as the Afghan national team did in Nepal last night. They danced wildly, threw their manager in the air […]

12 Sep 2013 AAN Team • Context and Culture

Thematic Dossier II: Football in Afghanistan

Tonight (11 September 2013) Afghanistan is playing in the South Asian Football Cup Final, facing India in a match starting at 17.00 Kabul time. Soccer is quickly becoming a favorite in Afghanistan, both as a sport played by the youth and as a passion for the public watching it on television at home. After an […]

11 Sep 2013 Fabrizio Foschini • Dossiers

End of a Peace Process? Pressure on Islamist party undermines Tajik post-civil war consensus

Tajikistan’s government is cracking down on the main opposition party, the Islamist IRPT. Some say this is just part of a pre-election campaign (the country is to elect its president in November); others see longer-term implications that could jeopardise the 1997 peace agreement that still shapes the country’s political reality. The IRPT – the only […]

9 Sep 2013 Thomas Ruttig • Regional Relations

Back to Bad: Chahrdara between Taleban and ALP – a district case study

Chahrdara, an embattled district in Kunduz province, is a miniature model for all of Afghanistan’s larger conflicts. Traditionally a hotbed of the insurgency, military interventions could never bring lasting change, so Chahrdara – under heavy foreign siege in 2010 (1) – is back to where it was: a Taleban stronghold in the north. At the same […]

6 Sep 2013 Lola Cecchinel • War and Peace

Daudzai In – and Out: Pre-election cabinet reshuffles

Within two days, President Hamed Karzai has changed two of his key cabinet posts: Muhammad Omar Daudzai was appointed acting interior minister on 1 September 2013, one day after Rahmatullah Nabil became acting head of the Afghan intelligence service. AAN’s Senior Analyst Thomas Ruttig looks at the implications and predicts that, with the registration of […]

3 Sep 2013 Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

The Other Side of the Amu Darya: Tajik and Afghans, neighbours apart

Despite pushes from the West and economic needs, Afghan-Central Asian economic cooperation has not taken off, yet. The people of Tajikistan, for example, are not very interested in or even prejudiced towards their southern neighbours, as they concentrate on their troubles with their former Uzbek brothers. The Tajik government and the other more or less authoritarian […]

1 Sep 2013 Thomas Ruttig • Regional Relations

Narrower Than Expected: Political opposition presents “Electoral Union of Afghanistan”

Today, 29 August 2013, a coalition of powerful groups and opposition parties, dominated by Northern powerbrokers, came forward and announced their “electoral union.” It could have been one of the first real political happenings in the wheeling and dealing before the presidential election of April 2014. Instead it was a surprisingly uninspired and chaotic event. […]

29 Aug 2013 Gran Hewad • Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

What came out of the Peace Talks in Islamabad? An Afghan and a Pakistani take

Did the Afghan-Pakistani peace talks in Islamabad over the past two days yield results to speak of? There were surprisingly positive moments – moments that justified the hope pinned on this trip. Then again, listening in closer to the concluding statements of the Pakistani Prime Minister and the Afghan President, both leaders seemed to be […]

28 Aug 2013 Reza Rumi • War and Peace