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The Many Owners of Ashab Baba: Land conflict at the Ainak copper mine

So far, after the (re-)discovery of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth, interest has concentrated on the macro-level – how to access and to market it, who won the tenders (and why not American companies*) – or on the cultural heritage aspect, how the Buddhist relics found at the Ainak copper mine can be protected. Now, micro conflicts […]

10 Mar 2012 Obaid Ali • Thomas Ruttig • Economy, Development, Environment

Releasing the Guantanamo Five? 1: Biographies of the Prisoners (amended)

Releasing Taleban from Guantanamo Bay is on the agenda – in the context of finding a negotiated end to the conflict. Four senior and one junior Taleban official may be freed, or exchanged for the captured US soldier, Bowe Bergdahl. The idea has caused consternation among some in the US Congress, as well as consternation […]

9 Mar 2012 Kate Clark • Rights and Freedoms

Women’s Day in Afghanistan: Where the ‘Personal is still Political’

International Women’s Day is a good opportunity to reflect on the legal advances made by Afghan women over the past decade and what challenges remain to turn laws on paper into reality. It is particularly needed after the President’s endorsement of the recent Ulama Council statement that, among a number of other points, addresses Afghan […]

8 Mar 2012 Sari Kouvo • Rights and Freedoms

Parliament Completes the Cabinet – after two years

Taking most observers by surprise, the Wolesi Jirga has passed a very long-waited vote of confidence and approved all nine ministers put forward by the president today. It has been more than two years since the current government was formed, but all portfolios are now duly occupied by ministers approved by the Parliament, and not […]

6 Mar 2012 Fabrizio Foschini • Political Landscape

1 March 2012: Security Arrangements, Transitional Justice, and Peace Mediation: Challenges and Options for the EU

This expert and policymaker roundtable organised in Brussels will bring together 15-20 participants from the fields of Security Arrangements and Security Sector Reform; Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration; Transitional Justice; Peace Mediation and EU Foreign Policy. The expert seminar aims to: 1. Present and exchange lessons, findings, dilemmas and difficulties from the experience of promoting accountability and […]

1 Mar 2012 AAN • admin • Events

Afghanistan’s ‘Cumulative’ Protests and the West’s Dilemma (amended)

Afghanistan has seen its largest protests since the fall of the Taleban. For six days in a row, demonstrations protested the burning of copies of the Qur’an at Bagram airbase in about half of the Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. Roads were blocked, ISAF bases stormed and an UN office targeted and there were calls for jihad […]

1 Mar 2012 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

23 March 2012, Berlin: Film show and discussion on ‘Generation Kunduz’

AAN’s Thomas Ruttig will participate in a discussion of the documentary movie ‘Generation Kunduz: The War of the Others’ (both in German language) together with director and occasional AAN guest blogger Martin Gerner in Tilsiter Lichtspiele movie theatre on Friday 23 March 2012 at 8:00 pm. Generation Kunduz – Der Krieg der Anderen Dokumentarfilm, D […]

1 Mar 2012 AAN • admin • Events

Afghanistan between Democratization and Civil War: Post-2014 Scenarios

Thomas Ruttig, in: Charles King Mallory IV/Joachim Krause (eds.), Sustainable Strategies for Afghanistan and the Region After 2014, Aspen Institute, European Strategy Forum, reader for a conference, 10-11 January 2012, Berlin. This conference contribution draws on an earlier papers co-authored with Citha D. Maaß for Berlin’s SWP in August 2011. It discusses post-2014 scenarios for […]

1 Mar 2012 Thomas Ruttig • External publications

Guest Blog: The Quran burnings and the German retreat from Taloqan

German authorities announced on Friday, the third day of the Quran burning protests, that they have closed their ISAF base in Taloqan several weeks earlier than planned in response to the protests. Originally, the base had been slated for closure in March. This decision shows the limitations of the assumed international control of particular areas […]

26 Feb 2012 Marcel Habler • International Engagement

Guest Blog: Karzai and the ‘Imran Khan Factor’ in Pakistan

There is little understanding of Pakistan and its internal dynamics in Afghanistan. A recent example is the visit of President Hamed Karzai to Pakistan last week, during which he met with Pakistani leaders – not only those from the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) but also a number of other prominent politicians: the leaders of […]

25 Feb 2012 Malaiz Chopan-Daud • Regional Relations

The Quran burnings and the different faces of restraint

The fourth day of protests has ended with a mixed picture: on one hand relief over what seemed to have been a sense of restraint in many areas, on the other hand sadness and resignation over the reports of violence and deaths coming from a handful of places. All in all, it was not as […]

24 Feb 2012 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

The Quran burnings and the different faces of anger

Yesterday’s thoughtless and avoidable burning of several Qurans at Bagram air base has sparked a second day of protests across Afghanistan. The repercussions are expected to reverberate for several more days, at least. The demonstrations are a combination of religious outrage, pent-up frustration and groups wanting to stir trouble. It is difficult to predict how […]

22 Feb 2012 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

Quran Burning on Bagram Base

This blog can be very short, thinks Thomas Ruttig, a Senior Analyst at AAN, and doesn’t require any Afghanistan expertise: Books and other reading material, Islamic or otherwise, do not belong in the garbage. If you stick to this basic rule, Quran burnings and retaliatory riots can be avoided. For an alternative to dispose of printed material, […]

21 Feb 2012 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

Are the Taleban talking to Karzai (and does it matter)?

When little is clear, all clues seem relevant. And so it can happen that a handful of fairly vague sentences by the President are taken as proof of a significant new step towards negotiations in Afghanistan. A closer look at these claims of emerging “three-way talks” shows that this reading is rather premature, as is […]

18 Feb 2012 Martine van Bijlert • War and Peace

Guest Blog: No Frontpage News? Afghanistan’s Ongoing IDP Crisis

A powerful article published in the New York Times on 3 February 2011 has raised the critical question about what, if anything, humanitarian agencies are doing to address the growing IDP crisis in Afghanistan and how many children (and adults) have to die until the international community is willing to wake up and admit that […]

13 Feb 2012 Susanne Schmeidl • Dan Tyler • Migration

War Without Accountability: The CIA, Special Forces and plans for Afghanistan’s future

That US Special Forces are likely to remain in Afghanistan after 2014 and for the long haul, has been discussed for some time. According to The Washington Post, which went to a talk by the former head of US Special Operations Forces (SOF) in Afghanistan, Admiral Bill McRaven, at the National Defence Industrial Association in […]

10 Feb 2012 Kate Clark • International Engagement

Protests and Factional Conflict in Sarepul

Since 8 December last year, demonstrations are continuing in Sarepul. While this remote northern province has been one of the areas least affected by the insurgency for many years, of late it has been pulled into the vortex of the Northern insurgency, too. But the protests have a different background: their origins lie in local […]

9 Feb 2012 Thomas Ruttig • Rights and Freedoms

Talks Have Not Stopped Killing of Afghan Civilians

The number of Afghan civilians being killed in the war has risen yet again, according to UNAMA’s yearly assessment of civilian casualties for 2011. The eight per cent increase since 2010 (25 per cent increase since 2009) is largely due to the actions of ‘anti-government elements’, as the UN refers to the insurgents who are, […]

4 Feb 2012 Kate Clark • War and Peace

Women and Reconciliation (4): A Response to Anatol Lieven’s Afghan Books Review

Never propose a political system or solution for anybody that you could not live with yourself, not even for women. AAN’s Sari Kouvo comments on Anatol Lieven’s review ‘Afghanistan: The Best Way to Peace’ in the February 2012 issue of the New York Review of Books and notes that Lieven’s ‘best way’ for women is […]

3 Feb 2012 Sari Kouvo • Rights and Freedoms

The Emperor’s New Clothes: The leaked NATO report on the Taleban

The BBC and The Times have obtained a classified NATO assessment of the Taleban. The leaked report, which has made headline news, has informed us that NATO thinks Pakistan is supporting the Taleban, that the Taleban are defiant and enjoy widespread support, that Afghans frequently prefer them to their corrupt government and that Afghan government […]

2 Feb 2012 Kate Clark • Regional Relations