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Ghazni as Islamic Cultural Capital 2013 (updated)

Ghazni has been chosen as the City of Islamic Culture for the Asian region for 2013. The city south of Kabul boasts a number of important pre-Islamic and Islamic sites but, due to the security situation, cannot be reached by foreign tourists currently. Our frequent guest blogger Thalia Kennedy(*) comments on the conundrums of such […]

24 May 2011 Thalia Kennedy • Context and Culture

23 May 2011 NAF Report by Thomas Ruttig: Negotiating with the Taleban

The New America Foundation releases a much-delayed report by Thomas Ruttig: “Negotiations with the Taliban: History and Prospects for the Future”. The paper provides context and clarifies the language of the current debate; it weighs the various reported contacts between insurgents and the Afghan government; it describes the motivations of the main actors, discusses the […]

23 May 2011 AAN • admin • Events

Killing Civilians: Taleban and International Law

When the Taleban attacked the 400-bed military hospital in Kabul on 21 May 2011, they committed a gross violation of the international law that protects medical personnel during conflict. The Taleban spokesman heaped praise on those who attacked the hospital, even though, a few days earlier, he had been condemning the international military’s ‘crime against […]

23 May 2011 Kate Clark • War and Peace

Negotiations with the Taliban: History and Prospects for the Future

Thomas Ruttig, New America Foundation, 23 May 2011 This paper ‘Negotiations with the Taliban: History and Prospects for the Future’ authored for and published now by The New America Foundation provides a view – from a perspective before OBL’s death and reports that a direct US-Taleban link has been established with German assistance – at […]

23 May 2011 Thomas Ruttig • External publications

Direct US-Taleban talks and the Bonn 2 conference (amended)

On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that the US have ‘speeded up’ direct talks with the Taleban. According to this report, such talks have been ‘initiated several months ago’ and that ‘at least three meetings in Qatar and Germany, one as recently as “eight or nine days ago,” with a Taliban official considered close to […]

18 May 2011 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

The Green Trend mobilisation and a possible new rift in Jamiat

As of late, the Green Trend movement has been reactivating its public and web-based activities. The movement has been established by former NDS director Amrullah Salih, together with former Minister of Interior Hanif Atmar, one of the two most prominent high-ranking government officials marginalised by President Karzai as – what many people believe – concessions […]

18 May 2011 Gran Hewad • Political Landscape

Kill or Capture 1: Owning up to civilian casualties

US Special Forces carry out the vast majority of night raids and targeted killings in Afghanistan, but it is ISAF – through its media office – which deals with any news or fall-out arising from them. In responses to questions by journalists about AAN’s latest report about a case of intelligence failures and targeted killing […]

17 May 2011 Kate Clark • War and Peace

18 May 2011: Cul-de-sac Afghanistan? Panel discussion in Frankfurt

While the European public is mainly concerned about the growing number of killed ISAF soldiers in Afghanistan and the debate is dominated by the troop withdrawal question – what about the people who ISAF was supposed to protect and defend? What would it mean if security responsibility is transferred to a government that is notorious […]

16 May 2011 AAN • admin • Events

Where exactly is Abbottabad, or A Vindication of Geography

Abbottabad (or, in the local pronunciation: Abtabad) has already risen to a status shared only by some of Calvino’s ‘Invisibles Cities’: that of a mysterious fairy land of which everybody talks but few know something for certain. In particular, when the news of Osama bin Laden’s killing broke, its exact distance from the Pakistani capital […]

16 May 2011 AAN Team • Regional Relations

Guest Blog: A hard time for Afghanistan’s independent media

The world and Afghanistan ‘celebrated’ World Press Freedom Day a short while ago. The annual international press freedom index, published by Reporters sans frontières (RSF), (*) ranks Afghanistan number 147 of 178 states, better than a number of its neighbouring countries, including Pakistan (151), Uzbekistan (163), China (171), Turkmenistan (176) and Iran (175). Our guest […]

13 May 2011 Martin Gerner • Political Landscape

10 May 2011: New AAN Report – The Takhar Attack

The targeted killing of Osama Bin Laden has given a boost to those in the US who believe this is also an effective strategy to defeat – or at least degrade – the Taleban in Afghanistan. This new AAN thematic report, by senior analyst Kate Clark, warns against this strategy, stressing that the legality of […]

10 May 2011 AAN • admin • Events

The Enteqal Seven (2): Around Mehtarlam, an ‘insurgency corridor’ in the making

The start of the Taleban spring offensive is not stopping preparations that are on track for the announced transfer of security to Afghan forces, beginning in July. In the Eastern region, however, besides the scheduled transition in Mehtarlam district of Laghman, a much more problematic development can be witnessed, as US troops that abandon positions […]

10 May 2011 Fabrizio Foschini • War and Peace

The Takhar attack: Targeted killings and the parallel worlds of US intelligence and Afghanistan

The targeted killing of Osama Bin Laden has given a boost to those in the US who believe this is also an effective strategy to defeat – or at least degrade – the Taleban in Afghanistan. This new AAN thematic report, by senior analyst Kate Clark, warns against this strategy, stressing that the legality of […]

10 May 2011 Kate Clark • Special Reports

Ahmed Rashid in Berlin: Transition before a political settlement ‘is absurd’

Earlier today, Ahmed Rashid participated in a Chatham House-ruled podium in Berlin about ‘Afghanistan on the Road to Bonn: Impacts of a Region in Change’. Of course, the event was overshadowed by the recent killing of OBL in Abbottabad, which has created some optimism for an opening political solution in Afghanistan amongst participants, and Ahmed […]

9 May 2011 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

5 May 2011 New AAN Report: The Insurgents of the Afghan North

In this new AAN report, released on 5 May 2011, Antonio Giustozzi and Christoph Reuter turn their sights on the Afghan North again. They describe the rise of the Taleban in the seven northern provinces, discuss their recruitment and shadow administration, and explore the effects of the conduct of the Afghan government and of ISAF’s […]

5 May 2011 AAN • admin • Events

The Insurgents of the Afghan North

In this report Antonio Giustozzi and Christoph Reuter describe the rise of the Taleban in northern Afghanistan. They discuss their recruitment and shadow administration, the conduct of the Afghan government, the effects of ISAF’s ‘capture-and-kill campaign’ and how all of this together contributes to a very unstable status quo. Until recently, the belief was widespread […]

5 May 2011 Antonio Giustozzi • Christoph Reuter • Special Reports

Al-Qaeda headless – Taleban unaltered

The symbiotic relationship between al-Qaeda and the Taleban had been over-emphasised. Therefore, the impact on them by OBL’s death will remain limited, argues AAN’s Thomas Ruttig – in part 2 of a series of still raw thoughts on the Abbottabad raid. ‘Bin Laden had mostly taken on a symbolic role and his removal doesn’t directly […]

3 May 2011 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

The Kabul Bank Investigations; Central Bank Gives Names and Figures

On Wednesday, 27 April 2011, the head of Afghanistan’s Central Bank, Abdul Qadir Fitrat, and the new (Central Bank appointed) chief of the Kabul Bank, Massud Ghazi, briefed the Parliament on what was going on with the Kabul Bank. They named names, gave detail of the close to one billion USD irregular loans that brought […]

2 May 2011 Martine van Bijlert • Economy, Development, Environment

The Afghan War without Osama – seven boiled-down thoughts

So what to add to the cacophony of opinion and analysis that has already filled the airwaves and the internet? Some thoughts, boiled down to their very basic bottom-line. I don’t think the death of bin Laden will directly impact the fighting capabilities of any of the parties engaged in the war in Afghanistan. I […]

2 May 2011 Martine van Bijlert • War and Peace

27 April 2011: First AAN Occasional Paper on Mahmud Tarzi and the Wesh Zalmian movement

This paper of its senior Analysts Thomas Ruttig represents the opening of AAN’s new series of occasional papers. It addresses the influence of the thoughts of Afghan nationalist and moderniser Mahmud Tarzi (1865-1933), foreign minister under reformer-king Amanullah (1919-29), on Afghanistan’s 1940/50s pro-democratic opposition movement, the Wesh Zalmian (Awakened Youth). Mahmud Tarzi and the movement […]

27 Apr 2011 AAN • admin • Events