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Bargaining over US bases: Will they stay or will they go?

US intentions – what it wants or plans or thinks it might possibly do in Afghanistan after 2014 – are again in the news. Will Washington want bases? Will US soldiers ‘just’ be training Afghan troops or participate in fighting? And how many soldiers might remain in Afghanistan? On the Afghan side, both President Karzai […]

12 Dec 2011 Kate Clark • War and Peace

Guest Blog: Andkhoi between Drought and Insurgency

The sale of government jobs, unexplained killings, abductions by the Taleban and a severe drought that has resulted in a nearly complete crop failure this year. It is difficult to say what is worse for the people in Andkhoi, the security situation or economic crisis, our guest blogger Marga Flader who works for a German […]

9 Dec 2011 Marga Flader • War and Peace

Berlin, 8 December 2011: After Bonn2 – podium with AAN participation

‘Wie weiter am Hindukusch? Zehn Jahre danach: Afghanistan nach der Bonner Außenministerkonferenz’: AAN’s Thomas Ruttig and Bente Scheller, the Boell Foundation’s outgoing head of office in Kabul, will discuss the outcome of the 5 December international conference on Afghanistan in Bonn, the role of Afghan civil society and perspectives for Afghanistan (in German). Time: Thursday, […]

8 Dec 2011 AAN • admin • Events

Guest Blog: Bonn 2 – Summit of Two Media Realities (with links to official docs)

The Bonn 2 Afghanistan Conference was not only revealing in what was said in the non-binding final statement* of the meeting, but also on how differently journalists worked and observed the event for much of the day. Our guest blogger Martin Gerner, a freelance German author and correspondent who also had organized an international seminar […]

8 Dec 2011 Martin Gerner • International Engagement

Ashura Attacks (3): A new type of violence in Afghanistan

One of the last taboos of violence in Afghanistan was broken by yesterday’s suicide attacks on the Ashura commemoration in Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif. Historically, sectarian tensions or conflicts have occasionally been seen in Afghanistan, but they have usually been stirred up and leveraged by politics or war. Sectarian hatred has never enjoyed public recognition […]

7 Dec 2011 Fabrizio Foschini • War and Peace

Ashura Attacks 2: Flash from the Past, Ashura 2002 (amended)

The bombs which ripped through Ashura processions in Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif and likely targeted – futilely – a ceremony in Kandahar killed dozens, raising the spectre of sectarianism in Afghanistan. Every year since 2001, says Kate Clark, the Ashura ceremonies have become larger and more public as the Afghanistan’s Shi’a communities have grown in […]

7 Dec 2011 Kate Clark • War and Peace

Ashura Attacks (1): Playing with Fire

Attacks have targeted Shi’as in two of Afghanistan’s major cities as they gathered for Ashura, to lament the martyrdom of Imam Hussein and members of his family in Iraq in 680 AD. The attack in Kabul was particularly serious and left dozens dead. Such violence is a new phenomenon, says Kate Clark, deeply troubling and […]

6 Dec 2011 Kate Clark • War and Peace

AAN Live: Reading between the lines of Bonn 2

The Bonn 2 conference was huge – with 100 delegations, it was quantitatively the biggest ever on Afghanistan. Yet expectations had grown progressively more limited over the past few months and the speeches, this morning, from the main protagonists delivered few surprises. President Karzai was particularly bland, repeating again his ‘continued’ commitment to fighting corruption […]

5 Dec 2011 Thomas Ruttig • International Engagement

From Bonn 1 to Bonn 2: Afghanistan’s missed opportunities

The author, Francesc Vendrell served in Afghanistan as both the Personal Representative the UN Secretary-General and the EU Special Representative. He looks back on the past decade, describing the pre-Bonn attempts at a political settlement, the first Bonn conference and the opportunities that were missed since then. Prolonged conflicts are particularly difficult to resolve, often […]

4 Dec 2011 Francesc Vendrell • International Engagement

Afghan Civil Society Forum in Bonn (2): A Day of Messaging

The discussion about a possible peace process that would include the Taleban dominated the discussions on day 2 of the Afghan Civil Society Forum in Bonn on Saturday. While it became obvious that the Afghan organisations still have to do some homework, they professionally reacted to a smear campaign at home declaring that they do […]

3 Dec 2011 Thomas Ruttig • International Engagement

Afghan Civil Society Forum in Bonn (1): Occupy the JCMB?

The tone makes the music, we say here in Germany – ie: it is not only what you say but how you say it. Despite plenty of efforts by the organisers, four German political foundations, to make the 34 elected Afghan delegates to the Bonn Civil Society Forum feel comfortable there were a number of […]

3 Dec 2011 Thomas Ruttig • International Engagement

The New National Front: A Dark Horse Returns – with Three Riders

Two months after the death of Burhanuddin Rabbani, his old coalition, the National Front of Afghanistan (Jebha-ye Melli Afghanistan), has been revived. The new grouping is calling for radical political reform in order, as they see it, to re-enfranchise the Afghan voter. They want decentralization,a proportional voting system and a prime minister. At the same […]

1 Dec 2011 Gran Hewad • Political Landscape

1 December 2011: New AAN Discussion Paper: The International Engagement in Afghanistan beyond 2014

This new report by the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), The International Community’s Engagement in Afghanistan beyond 2014, discusses the challenges for transition and the cost of a hasty and unconditioned international withdrawal. It particularly focuses on security, economy, political framework, reconciliation, governance, human rights and regional politics. In the wake of the international conference on […]

1 Dec 2011 AAN • admin • Events

Bonn2 and Civil Society: An Afghan election and German events (amended)

One week to go to the international Bonn 2 conference, and even less to the Civil Society Forum (CSF) on 2 and 3 November. The first delegates and representatives of Afghan civil society organisations (which is not the same) are trickling in, also for a whole string of events directly linked – or in opposition […]

1 Dec 2011 Thomas Ruttig • International Engagement

The International Community’s Engagement in Afghanistan beyond 2014

This new discussion paper by the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) discusses the challenges for transition and the cost of a hasty and unconditioned international withdrawal. It particularly focuses on security, economy, political framework, reconciliation, governance, human rights and regional politics. The report, which is a result of the collaboration of key AAN contributors, emphasizes that […]

1 Dec 2011 AAN Team • Special Reports

Dresden, 30 November 2011: AAN at Kreuzkirche

On Wednesday, 30 November (7.30 pm), AAN’s Co-Director Thomas Ruttig will speak about ‘Afghanistan: On the way to democracy or civil war’ (in German) as part of the series: ‘Dialog der Kulturen’. Host organisation: Ökumenisches Informationszentrum e.V. (ÖIZ) Venue: Mauersbergersaal, Haus an der Kreuzkirche, Dresden (Germany). Admission is free. More about ÖIZ here

30 Nov 2011 AAN • admin • Events

The Thin Red Durand Line

The air-strikes that hit two Pakistani check-posts on the border between Mohmand Agency and Kunar province, killing 24 (some sources still report 25 or 26) Pakistani security forces and injuring a dozen more, have triggered, as expected, a strong reaction from the Pakistani authorities. As of now, Pakistan, ISAF and the Afghan military have very […]

29 Nov 2011 Fabrizio Foschini • Regional Relations

The Past is Here to Stay: Listening to Afghan Voices on Justice and Reconciliation

The abuses and violations suffered by Afghans during the conflicts are all but forgotten, and although pragmatic about what is possible in the current security environment, Afghans seem to view reconciliation and justice as intimately linked. AAN’s Sari Kouvo takes a look at recent publications by the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) documenting Afghan […]

27 Nov 2011 Sari Kouvo • Rights and Freedoms

Brussels, 29 November 2011: AAN’s Thomas Ruttig with an assessment on the eve of Bonn 2

AAN’s Thomas Ruttig will speak at the Egmont Institute (Royal Institute for International Relations) of Belgium under the title ‚The political future of Afghanistan: An assessment on the eve of the Bonn conference’. Time: 6 to 8 pm For more information and registration call: +32 (0) 2 223 41 14

25 Nov 2011 AAN • admin • Events

2001 Ten Years on (3): The fall of Loya Paktia and why the US preferred warlords

In Loya Paktia the people, rather than commanders, overthrew the Taleban in 2001 – one of the very few places where this happened. Tribal councils took power, driving out al-Qaida fighters and doing all of it peacefully. Khost and then Paktia provinces fell to tribal coalitions on 14 November 2001, just one day after the […]

24 Nov 2011 Kate Clark • War and Peace