Ten years ago today, the first bombs were dropped over Afghanistan. Most Kabulis welcomed them and even applauded when houses of certain Taleban ‘guests’ were hit. They were really tired of living as international pariahs and under a leader who’s face was unknown and who only recommended prayer to overcome social problems, leaving the real […]
Thomas Ruttig
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War and Peace
Over the last few days the number of MPs attending the plenary session has been slowly growing, while the Law Support Coalition has struggled to maintain coherence. Individual members are being peeled off, while even those determined to make a stand are questioning whether they should remain outside the session. A compromise seems to be […]
Gran Hewad
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Martine van Bijlert
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Political Landscape
Ten years ago on 7 October, the first US bombs fell on Afghanistan – the ouverture to the US-led international intervention on Afghanistan. Thomas Ruttig, an AAN Senior Analyst, interviewed AIHRC commissioner Dr Soraya Rahim Sobhrang* to get her view on the balance of this intervention, with a particular focus on women’s rights. AAN: When […]
Thomas Ruttig
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Rights and Freedoms
After the Rabbani assassination, the Afghan government has made it clear that it intends to revise its peace strategy. It has however been very short on the details of what this might look like, other than that it needs to revolve around ‘talking to Pakistan’. The change comes in the midst of deteriorating relations with […]
Martine van Bijlert
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War and Peace
The copy of the agreement can be found here.
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International documents on Afghanistan
Hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Finland, AAN’s Sari Kouvo discussed the current situation in Afghanistan with represenatives of Finnish ministries and civil society.
AAN
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Events
AAN’s Sari Kouvo held a seminar about gender and human security at the annual security seminar of the Civil Society Conflict Prevention Network in Finland. The aim of the seminar was to challenge the state-centered security paradigm through a focus on human security. Other speakers included Finland’s Minister of Development, Heidi Hautala, and Minister of […]
AAN
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Events
“My love will gather us both together on the day of resurrection Brutes have placed stones between us in this world.” – On Friday, 16 September, the Mirman Baheer Association, a Pashtun women’s socio-cultural network, met in Kabul.* It was the third gathering of Pashto women poets by the Association and it brought together more […]
Naheed Esar Malikzay
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Rights and Freedoms
Details of the identities of two of the men involved in the plot to kill former president, Burhanuddin Rabbani, have been given to AAN by a person close to the Afghan government. These fresh details ultimately came from Rahmatullah Wahidyar, the member of the High Peace Council who was the conduit for the killer to […]
Kate Clark
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War and Peace
Details about the assassination of Burhannudin Rabbani are trickling in, raising many questions. It is still unclear whether this was a Taleban authorised hit, a Taleban ‘rogue operation’ or the work of another group. At the funeral, President Karzai said ‘the blood of the martyr and other martyrs of freedom requires us to continue our […]
Kate Clark
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War and Peace
AAN’s Sari Kouvo in cooperation with the ENNA Brussels’s office organised an informal information-sharing event for Brussels-based think tanks and civil society organisations. The aim of the event was to share information about Afghanistan-related advocacy and policy in Brussels and about civil society activities in the run up to the high-level conference on Afghanistan in […]
AAN
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Events
While the killing of the Head of the High Peace Council on Tuesday certainly sent a strong message that peace will not be easily attained in Afghanistan, Afghan civil society organizations have used the week around World Peace Day celebrated on 21 September to campaign for peace, sending messages that peace has to be attained […]
Sari Kouvo
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War and Peace
The killing of Burhannudin Rabbani was a treacherous act. Pretending to be a peace emissary, his assassin gained entry to his home and killed him while the two men were greeting each other, presumably while saying salaam alekum. It is not yet clear if this was the work of the Taleban. They have yet to […]
Kate Clark
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War and Peace
AAN’s Sari Kouvo served as commentator at the launch of the report ‘A Decade Lost: Locating Gender in U.S. Counter-Terrorism’ at the NY University’s institute in Abu Dhabi.
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Events
One of the most senior Afghan leaders has been killed in a suicide bombing at his home in Kabul. Burhanuddin Rabbani was a founder and leading activist in the Afghan Islamist movement in the 1960s and 1970s, one of the seven leaders of the (Sunni) mujahedin parties in the 1980s and – at least formally […]
Kate Clark
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War and Peace
Why are the voices and everyday experiences of Afghanistan’s rural, urban poor and working class women still so rarely heard? Why do they continue to be (re)presented as a homogeneous group of victims of their own families, communities and traditions? In this guest blog, Deborah Smith* argues that it is important to move away from […]
Deborah Smith
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Rights and Freedoms
As the sound of automatic weapons and rockets died down, hopefully not to resume soon in Kabul, the city went into the night without knowing the final outcome of today’s battles. Earlier during the day, Fabrizio Foschini and others at AAN could only listen to the sound of it coming through the wind, and hope […]
Fabrizio Foschini
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War and Peace
This latest discussion paper by Ann Wilkens, Advisory Board member of the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) outlines key political challenges facing Pakistan and relevant for Afghanistan. The focus of the report is on possible political openings after the killing of Osama bin Laden. For more details click here.
AAN
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Events
More than one month has passed since Mazar-e Sharif was officially transitioned to the responsibility of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), along with the cities of Herat, Lashkargah and Mehtarlam, the provinces of Bamian and Panjshir, and most of Kabul. In the last of this series of blogs, AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini, with the help […]
Fabrizio Foschini
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War and Peace
This latest discussion paper by Ann Wilkens, Advisory Board member of the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) outlines key political challenges facing Pakistan and relevant for Afghanistan. The focus of the report is on possible political openings after the killing of Osama bin Laden. While still too early to speak of Pakistan as a failed state, […]
Ann Wilkens
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Special Reports
