Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

فبریزیو فوسرکینی

No Country for Good Policemen?

Fabrizio Foschini •

At the NATO summit in Chicago, everybody’s attention seems to be focused on the budget for the defence of Afghanistan and how much donors will spend after 2014, in other words on the quantity of security forces that the country will be able to field. But what about their quality? A new, excellent report on […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Transition Phase Three: A Big Leap Forward

Fabrizio Foschini •

A new phase of the security transition, the third, has been announced. Every Afghan province is now going to be involved, at least partly, in the transfer of security from ISAF troops to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). This is the case even in areas where foreign troops are no longer present or where […]

War and Peace Read more

In Kabul’s Shadow: the attacks in the provinces on 15-16 April

Fabrizio Foschini •

The attacks that took place a week ago in Kabul received more than their fair share of media coverage. The same thing cannot be said for the parallel attacks launched by insurgents simultaneously in three other provincial capitals. AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini and Obaid Ali look into the attacks in Nangrahar, Paktia and Logar, to try […]

War and Peace Read more

Farah (2): Empty Spaces Beyond the Road

Fabrizio Foschini •

Part two of the report on the vast and far-off western province of Farah. AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini looks at the threat that insurgents pose to communication routes and at the successes and shortcomings of security arrangements in the districts, complicated by poppy crops, social divides and the lack of an effective government presence. If mass […]

War and Peace Read more

Farah (1): An island of secularism in the midst of troubled waters

Fabrizio Foschini •

Farah is the fourth largest province in the country and yet a frequently forgotten expanse in the Afghan Far West. It is also a doggedly contested battleground of insurgents and government, as recently shown with a spat of attacks on supply convoys and security forces that inflicted heavy casualties between the end of March and […]

War and Peace Read more

Afghanistan in World Literature (III): Kabuliwalas of the Latter Day

Fabrizio Foschini •

To inaugurate the new course of our Chat Mat column, here we resume our old series aimed at unearthing precious Afghan gems from the stockpile of world literature. Having presented some Victorian pearls earlier in the series, it is time to move to closer quarters, to India and to what was arguably its most anglicised […]

Context and Culture Read more

One Year of Transition: A Look Back (2)

Fabrizio Foschini •

Second part of the retrospective look at the last three months’ transitions which took in many Afghan provinces. AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini briefly comments on each of these and on some characteristics of the overall process. The second phase of transition continued on 11 January 2012 with a ceremony in the Wardak provincial capital of Maidan […]

International Engagement Read more

One Year of Transition: A Look Back (1)

Fabrizio Foschini •

The second phase of transition, which was announced on 27 November 2011, is drawing to a close after a long winter, and after a turbulent few weeks that have refocused attention on the fall-out over the ongoing conflict. Many more areas of Afghanistan have witnessed an official transfer of security, while information about the third […]

International Engagement Read more

Parliament Completes the Cabinet – after two years

Fabrizio Foschini •

Taking most observers by surprise, the Wolesi Jirga has passed a very long-waited vote of confidence and approved all nine ministers put forward by the president today. It has been more than two years since the current government was formed, but all portfolios are now duly occupied by ministers approved by the Parliament, and not […]

Political Landscape Read more

Striking at Kabul, now and then

Fabrizio Foschini •

The start of a new year is always an opportunity for reflection. 2011 was not the first and will probably not be the last year that drew to a close amid violence in Kabul. AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini takes a historical look at how the conflict has reached inside the gates of the Afghan capital in […]

War and Peace Read more

Melons: Afghan riches at the surface level

Fabrizio Foschini •

Winter chills are slowly creeping into our sunny Kabul existences. There are few comforts for this, and one is certainly fruit. In this season, oranges, guavas and, above all, pomegranates do a lot to assuage our troubles. AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini and Gran Hewad have also been finding solace in the memory of the bountiful melon […]

Context and Culture Read more

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

Fabrizio Foschini •

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 […]

War and Peace Read more

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