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Figure of the Day: US$ 100 m. (in destroyed orchards)

An Afghan government delegation has reported that ‘Afghan and foreign forces have caused more than US$ 100 million damage to fruit crops and homes during security operations in southern Kandahar province’. AAN’s senior analyst Thomas Ruttig remembers an episode last summer. When a young Afghan visited our office last summer and told us about US […]

11 Jan 2011 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

Because the Night Belongs to Raiders: Special ops in Nangrahar

The first days of 2011 have already been dotted with reports of renewed night raids by US special forces turning lethal for civilians, as the ones in Ghazni and Kunduz apparently were. The resentment these operations stir up among Afghans countrywide seems likely to wipe out any possible military benefit deriving from them. The negative […]

10 Jan 2011 Fabrizio Foschini • War and Peace

For a Handful of Dollars: Taleban allowed to join ALP

It’s official: reintegrated Taleban will be able to join the Afghan Local Police (ALP) – referred to more commonly by civilians as militias or arbaki. This is according to the head of ISAF’s Regional Command North (who also said such Taleban might become teachers). In flat contradiction, the MoI told AAN today that Taleban will […]

8 Jan 2011 Kate Clark • War and Peace

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011 – with the aqlak

With a little delay (well, the new Afghan year starts only in March and we’re all just back from our vacations) the AAN Management Board wishes all AAN members, contributors, readers as well as all its friends, partners and donors a happy and peaceful Sal-e Nau-e issawi. We are looking forward to a further fruitful […]

1 Jan 2011 AAN • admin • Events

AAN Year-Ender: What we think about 2010 and 2011

As the year draws to a close we have asked friends, members and contributors to reflect on the year that lies behind us and on the new year that is about to start. The result is a long and eclectic list of observations, predictions, concerns and hopes. With the very best wishes for Afghanistan in […]

28 Dec 2010 Martine van Bijlert • International Engagement

Risky German Development Strategy

On Christmas Eve, a German development consultant working on a road-building project was murdered in Kholm (also called Tashkurghan) in Northern Afghanistan. The Taleban claimed responsibility for the murder. The following commentary by Willi Germund, a German free-lance journalist frequently travelling to Afghanistan and Pakistan and also a frequent contributor for AAN, has kicked off […]

27 Dec 2010 Willi Germund • International Engagement

Election Stalemate and the Revival of Old Fault Lines (updated)

To all those who have lost track of what’s going on with the Afghan Parliamentary elections: don’t feel too bad. It has become very difficult to follow, even for those of us who really try – not just in terms of who is pushing for what and what that may result in, but also in […]

23 Dec 2010 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

Flamingo Watching in Dubai

‘Listen to the birds. That’s where all the music comes from.’ (The first of Captain Beefheart’s 10 Commandments of Guitar Playing) ‘If you can’t listen to them, watch them at least. It gives you some peace of mind after watching the war.’ (AAN Senior Birdwatcher Thomas Ruttig) No, the Emirates are not only megahigh-rises, never-ending […]

22 Dec 2010 AAN Team • Context and Culture

Reading papers on an airplane (amended)

A little press review by an analyst trying to catch up with the news after a few days off: the Obama review, terrorist threats in Europe, Dubai’s well-informed taxi-drivers, the inventors of waterboarding, a not so crazy Afghan project and Germany’s still grotesque discussion about whether that’s a war going on in Afghanistan. Thanks goodness, […]

19 Dec 2010 Thomas Ruttig • International Engagement

Plain Turkey by the AfViet Envoy

In 1971, a secret history of the Vietnam War was leaked to the American press. One chapter of what became known as the Pentagon Papers, had been written by a young career diplomat called Richard Holbrooke. He of course, would in his final mission, serve as the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan (he died […]

19 Dec 2010 Kate Clark • International Engagement

What comes after remembering? Some thoughts after National Victims Day in Afghanistan

There are days when Afghanistan’s sadness becomes overwhelming. For us, the Afghan National Victims’ Day was such a day. AAN Senior Analyst Sari Kouvo and Political Researcher Obaid Ali participated in the Afghan National Victims’ Day demonstration and commemoration. Around forty women and men have already gathered when we early Friday morning arrived at Kabul’s […]

16 Dec 2010 Sari Kouvo • War and Peace

Obama’s War Strategy: Stamping out the fire by pouring on gasoline

President Obama’s review of the first year of his war strategy in Afghanistan is extraordinarily upbeat. “The momentum achieved by the Taliban in recent years,” it says, “has been arrested in much of the country and reversed in some key areas… The surge… has reduced overall Taleban influence.”(*) For those of us living in Afghanistan, […]

16 Dec 2010 Kate Clark • War and Peace

16 December 2010: No Shortcut to Stability

An important new report on the linkages between Afghanistan’s insurgency and the lack of justice was released by Chatham House on 16 December. The report ‘No Shortcut to Stability: Justice, Politics and Insurgency in Afghanistan’ by Steve Carter and AAN’s Kate Clark argues that the sidelining of justice by the Afghan government and its international […]

16 Dec 2010 AAN • admin • Events

2010 Elections (40): A clear mess in the Land of the Light

Since Saturday it has become possible to do some real number crunching and to get a detailed analysis of the election results, after the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) finally uploaded the polling results per polling station. For weeks, the web page displayed an ‘Internal Server Error’ message, but a phone call to a senior IEC […]

15 Dec 2010 Fabrizio Foschini • Political Landscape

Reviewing the US in Afghanistan

The changes in the US administration after Obama’s election brought a short and rather refreshing burst of frankness on how bleak the situation in Afghanistan was. At the time I mistook this for honesty and a tolerance for complexity, but it turned out to have been a somewhat sophisticated version of ‘slam the predecessor.’ This […]

12 Dec 2010 Martine van Bijlert • International Engagement

Guest blog on Reintegration: Anyone want to surrender?

The Afghan government and its international backers, most prominently the Coalition forces, have developed a reconciliation program that aims to entice insurgent fighters to lay down their arms and re-enter normal life. But how is the program viewed by the local population? A recent assessment of local perceptions in West-Afghanistan by A.K. Frentzen, a social […]

11 Dec 2010 A K Frentzen • International Engagement

Guest blog: Peace on Hold

In spring of this year US troops in South East Afghanistan introduced a local peace initiative. It should have been a model for the whole country. Instead, it has ground to a halt, which highlights the huge challenge for the much vaunted reconciliation process. Nangarhar journalist Naqib Ahmad Atal, writing for Afghanistan Today, describes where […]

9 Dec 2010 Naqib Ahmad Atal • War and Peace

The Air Is Getting Thicker in Paktia

Some progress on the women’s front but the security situation spiraling further downwards and a population that cannot find anything good in the Americans anymore – these are impressions from a short visit to Gardez this week that was undertaken by AAN’s Senior Analyst Thomas Ruttig, two and a half months after his last trip […]

8 Dec 2010 Thomas Ruttig • Rights and Freedoms

Wikileaks and the Paktia governor

One of the US embassy cables published by Wikileaks relates to the Governor of Paktia, Juma Khan Hamdard. It contains detailed allegations that the governor is not only illegally amassing a personal fortune from US government-funded contracts, but is also fuelling money to active members of his tanzim, Hezb-e Islami, who are currently fighting the […]

6 Dec 2010 Kate Clark • Political Landscape

The Muhammad Omar everybody should listen to

In this Pashto Mashto blog, Fabrizio Foschini goes for a stroll in Kabul’s musical scene, according to his own, rather personal experience of it. I have always been a lazy student. When, on some Fridays, my ustad wakes me up shouting over the phone ‘Ahmad where the hell are you? Come, and today don’t bring your rubab! […]

5 Dec 2010 Fabrizio Foschini • Context and Culture