AAN In The Media – March 2010

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Obama’s surprise visit to Afghanistan
Deutsche Welle, 29 March 2010
Listen to an audio file of Thomas Ruttig’s (English-language) interview about the significance of President Obama’s recent brief visit to Afghanistan. On a question whether Obama was ‘lecturing’ Karzai on governance, he replied that this would be appreciated by many Afghans.

‘Taliban können nicht besiegt werden’ (The Taleban can’t be beaten [militarily])
Frankfurter Rundschau, 29 March 2010
In this interview, Thomas Ruttig argues after the Marja and before the Kandahar operation that political approaches to solving the problems in Afghanistan should be given priority.

Who Are The Taliban?
BBC Radio 4, 28 March 2010
Listen to a 30-minutes audio with contributions of Thomas Ruttig, Ahmed Rashid, Michael Semple, Alex van Linschoten, Felix Kuehn, Horia Mosadiq, Prof. Malcolm Chalmers and Sam Zarifi

Afghanistan Should Have a Council of Grandmothers
Change.org blog, 24 March 2010
Thomas Ruttig’s recent blog on Guldbudin has convinced this blogger that what Afghanistan really needs is a council of grandmothers. (“Yet again another peace agreement is being discussed (…) with only the armed and angry represented”).

The unseen downside of Pakistan’s recent crackdown on the Taliban
Foreign Policy blog, 24 March 2010
Thomas E. Ricks quotes Thomas Ruttig’s AAN blog on the repercussions of Mulla Baradar’s arrests

Mr. Bad News
Huffington Post, 23 March 2010
Nick Mills’ blog about Gulbuddin Hekmatyar refers to the translation of HIG’s peace plan on the AAN website as ‘a spider’s web with himself (Gulbuddin) at the center’.

Five steps to making a deal with the Taliban
BBC, 22 March 2010
A BBC compilation of interviews on the issue of talks with the Taleban quotes Thomas Ruttig as well as Michael Semple and Kandahar-based Felix Kuehn.

How Pakistani Help Gets in Karzai’s Way
Time magazine, 20 March 2010
In this analysis by Tim McGirk of the arrests of leading Taleban in Pakistan, Thomas Ruttigis quoted as saying that ‘Pakistan would rather there be no talks than talks without their control’.

Bitterer Abschied aus Kabul (Bitter Farewell from Kabul)
Westdeutsche Allgemeine (Cologne), 10 March 2010
In an article on outgoing Kai Eide’s, the author quotes Minna Jarvenpaa’s AAN blog on UNMA’s shift of attention on an aid coordination role under the UN special envoy.

Departing U.N. envoy says Afghan strategy is too ‘military-driven’
Stars and Stripes, 7 March 2010
In a review of Kai Eide’s tenure as UN special envoy for Afghanistan, Thomas Ruttig is quotes as saying that the process of ‘Americanisation’ is undermining the UN’s role as an honest broker.

CFC Justice & Reconciliation Report, February 2010
Civilian-Military Fusion Centre, issue 03/10, 1 March 2010
Overview of developments justice and reconciliation quotes Sari Kouvo’s critical analysis of the amnesty law.

CFC Governance Report February 2010
Civilian-Military Fusion Centre, issue 03/10, 1 March 2010
Overview of governance developments in Afghanistan quotes AAN blogs by Martine van Bijlert and Antonella Deledda on the new electoral law.

Tattered parachute
Himal (Nepal), 1 March 2010
In her analysis of ‘Afghanisation’ – ‘the buzz word from the London Conference on Afghanistan’ – Aunohita Mojumdar quotes from Anders Fange’s recently released AAN paper.