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Baghlan on the Brink: ANSF weaknesses and Taleban resilience

Is Baghlan province in the north of Afghanistan on the way to becoming a new stronghold of the insurgents? Two incidents symbolise this trend. On 20 May, one of the most powerful anti-Taleban commanders in the north, Mohammad Rasul Mohseni, died in a suicide attack. On 4 May, three Afghan police and one German soldier […]

31 May 2013 AAN Team • War and Peace

Attack on the ICRC: Crossing a Red Line

Today (29 May 2013), suicide bombers attacked the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Jalalabad, killing an unarmed guard and wounding a delegate before the attack was suppressed by Afghan security forces. No-one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Nevertheless, the insurgency has crossed a red line. It is […]

29 May 2013 Kate Clark • War and Peace

About Discrimination and Internet Access: Another student protest in Kabul

The 24 May complex Taleban attack in the heart of Kabul and, to a lesser extent, the demonstration of Kabul University students against the Law for the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW law) overshadowed another student protest in the Afghan capital. For eight days ending yesterday, some 80 students mostly of the Social Science […]

28 May 2013 Niamatullah Ibrahimi • Rights and Freedoms

The EVAW law – an Evil Law? The backlash at Kabul University

Many worried that debating the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) law in parliament might backfire. In the end, the Speaker cut short the discussion and sent it into the shadows of a parliamentary committee for further discussion. However, even such a brief debate brought he existence of the law to the public’s attention and […]

26 May 2013 Borhan Osman • Rights and Freedoms

The evolving Taleban: Changes in the insurgency’s DNA

Understanding the dynamics and complexity of the Taleban insurgency has generally proved difficult for outsiders, but it is now becoming clearer how fast the Taleban has evolved in recent years. The movement’s command structure has seen profound change – partly in response to the US wiping out whole layers of the old, mid-level insurgent leadership […]

19 May 2013 Claudio Franco • War and Peace

Damage Avoided, for Now? The very short debate about the EVAW law

It took only 20 minutes on Saturday morning for the parliamentary debate on the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) law to get heated – and for the Speaker to abruptly stop discussion. He sent the EVAW law back to the Joint Commission of the Parliament, which is responsible for preparing draft laws, for more […]

18 May 2013 Christine Roehrs • Rights and Freedoms

Moving East in the North: Transitioned Faryab and the Taleban

It took little more than seven months to turn Faryab from a province with a worrisome security situation into a province under constant attack. Since the Norwegian Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Faryab closed in September 2012, the security situation has quickly deteriorated. These days, Faryab is one of the main targets of the Taleban’s […]

17 May 2013 Obaid Ali • War and Peace

On a Knife’s Edge: The looming parliamentary debate about the Elimination of Violence against Women law

The Law on the Elimination of Violence against Women (the EVAW law) was celebrated as a major step forward for women’s rights in Afghanistan when it was issued per presidential decree three years ago. It is now on the parliament’s agenda for debate. This is not necessarily good news for women’s rights, however, since a […]

16 May 2013 Christine Roehrs • Sari Kouvo • Rights and Freedoms

Trouble at the Goshta Gate: New tensions and old wounds along the Durand Line

For almost two weeks now, tensions have been running high again at the Durand Line, the Afghan-Pakistani border not recognised by Kabul officials. Afghan troops have removed Pakistani border installations they perceived to be on their territory, security forces from both sides have exchanged fire and both governments have filed protests. Among Afghans, the issue […]

14 May 2013 Thomas Ruttig • Regional Relations

Return of the Muslim League: Pakistan after the Election

Pakistan elected its new parliament on 11 May 2013. The tiger – as many in the media have titled – has roared again: according to preliminary results, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) that used the tiger as its election symbol is way ahead of all its rivals but still short of an absolute majority. As […]

14 May 2013 Thomas Ruttig • Regional Relations

A Lot to Worry About: Pakistan on the Eve of Elections

The election in Pakistan on 11 May 2013 is just around the corner – but it has not drawn much attention in international media. A new AAN Briefing Paper by Ann Wilkens, ‘A Lot to Worry About: Pakistan on the Eve of Its First Democratic Transition’, who is a member of AAN’s Advisory Board, looks […]

7 May 2013 Ann Wilkens • Special Reports

Before Pakistan’s Election: “The democratic process needs more time”

Simultaneous with the publication of our new briefing paper about the Pakistani parliamentary election next week, we publish a blog based on an email interview with its author, Ann Wilkens, a former Swedish Ambassador to Pakistan and Afghanistan. She says that the election may result in a shift from centre-left to centre-right although its outcome […]

7 May 2013 Thomas Ruttig • Regional Relations

Adding the Ballot to the Bullet? Hezb-e Islami in transition

In a dramatic change of mind, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar recently announced that his Hezb-e Islami will participate in next year’s election to ‘defeat the enemy’ in the political arena, too. With this statement, he is relinquishing his original position that foreign troops must leave the country prior to any political accommodation between his party and the […]

6 May 2013 Borhan Osman • Political Landscape

Legalities of the Post-2014 Landscape: The US-Afghan Bilateral Security Agreement

By 1 May 2013, the United States and Afghanistan should have finalised a Bilateral Security Agreement and associated Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) for governing a post-2014 US military deployment. There is, as yet, no sign yet of any deal. These new agreements are supposed to supersede the Status of Forces Agreement ratified in May […]

1 May 2013 Kate Clark • International Engagement

Over-promising, Under-delivering: The Outcome of the Afghanistan Conference in Kazakhstan

The third Afghanistan-focussed ‘Heart of Asia’, also known as Istanbul Process, ministerial conference came to an end on 26 April 2013 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. At least three issues stood out: (1) the growing importance the Afghan government attaches to the regional initiative towards and after 2014, (2) the major conflicts involving some of the prominent […]

30 Apr 2013 S Reza Kazemi • International Engagement

Militia Disbandment and Peace Building: AAN republication of a 2008 paper

Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) was the name of a crucial programme in the post-Taleban years in Afghanistan that ran from 2006 to 2011. As the successor to the Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR) programme, it was designed to disband those remaining armed groups in the areas of the country not covered by DDR […]

28 Apr 2013 Barbara Stapleton • Special Reports

What exactly is the CIA doing in Afghanistan? Proxy militias and two airstrikes in Kunar

AAN has discovered that the NATO airstrike on Kunar on 13 April 2013 which killed as many as 17 civilians was the second strike on almost the same location to have been requested by the same mixed Afghan/CIA force. President Karzai’s spokesman has reported the president’s assertion – and anger – that the Afghan unit […]

28 Apr 2013 Kate Clark • War and Peace

Passing the Electoral Law: Four Controversies Down, Seven More to Go

The Wolesi Jirga has started to tackle the Electoral Law and is now going through the remaining controversial articles. The discussions so far have included shouting matches and near-fights, providing a taste of what may still come, particularly as the session inches towards what held the Parliament hostage for weeks in 2008: the issue of […]

26 Apr 2013 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

A New Round of Anti-Sherzai Protests In Nangarhar

In a five day-long protest in the Nangarhar provincial centre of Jalalabad, thousands of demonstrators have demanded the immediate dismissal of governor Gul Agha Sherzai for alleged involvement in corruption, embezzlement of development funds, illegal land grabs and for failing to protect Afghan territory from Pakistani inroads. The protestors were led, among others, by MP […]

25 Apr 2013 Fabrizio Foschini • Obaid Ali • Political Landscape

Afghanistan Conference in Kazakhstan: Will the ‘Heart of Asia’ Start Throbbing?

The ‘Heart of Asia’ process that was launched in November 2011 in Turkey aims to galvanise regional co-operation for security and development in Afghanistan and its near and extended neighbourhood. Approximately a year and a half has passed, with a hard-to-track number of conferences and meetings. The latest is to take place on 26 April […]

25 Apr 2013 S Reza Kazemi • International Engagement