Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Sudhansu Verma

Illicit miners yet to be prosecuted

AAN •

Pajhwok News Agency, 6 February 2014 The list of 1400 companies and individuals involved in the illegal extraction of mines that had been released a year ago by the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum has not arrived at the Attorney General Office (AGO) yet, reports the Kabul-based news agency. And it is shrinking: Integrity Watch says the initial […]

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Is Afghanistan klaar voor 2014?

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MO* (Mondiaal Nieuws), 5 February 2014 AAN in Flemish. (For the first time?) This is the translation of an AAN year-ender dispatch by Thomas Ruttig, here its English original. 

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Analysts: Talks between Kabul, Taliban hurt relations with US, others

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Stars and Stripes, 4 February 2014 AAN's Thomas Ruttig is among the three analysts quoted in this article, the others being Michael Keating of Chatham House and Graeme Smith of ICG. Thomas is quoted as saying: “Karzai has been treated like the leader of a colonialized country for many years. So some of his frustration […]

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Afghan election campaigns kick off amid security threats

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al-Jazeera, 3 February 2014 In this round-up about the first day of the Afghan election campaign, AAN's Thomas Ruttig is quoted as saying: “The main problem is the legitimacy of the result, and that needs to be agreed on by all 11 contenders and the population on the whole so that they all feel included,” […]

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In Afghanistan beginnt der Wahlkampf der Warlords

AAN •

Die Welt (Germany), 2 February 2014 In an article reviewing the credentials, and particularly the human rights records, of the eleven Afghan presidential candidates, Nader Nadery is quoted as saying that "at least nine of the [presidential and vice presidential] candidates" have been linked to war crimes. The article also mentions AAN's recent report about Kunduz […]

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Ohne Ahnung im Einsatz (not online)

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JS-Magazin, February 2014 Two German authors, Thomas Wiegold and JS' Felix Ehring, have looked at how German soldiers are prepared for their term in Afghanistan. Their findings are rather shocking: German soldiers, particularly the lower ranks, are supposed to be prepared in knowledge about the country and "inter-cultural competence", including 20 hours (only!) of theory plus […]

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Happy New Year of the Horse [Afghan-Qing relations]

AAN •

Raggazi Consulting blog, 31 January 2014 Mario Ragazzi celebrates the new Chinese Year of the Horse with a fascinating story of a diplomatic mission sent by Ahmad Shah Durrani to the court in Beijing in 1762, before the background of Qing expansion in Central Asia. Although the Afghan king sent four splendid horses (see them depicted […]

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MP, Victims Call Report On Ghorband Casualties False

AAN •

Tolonews, 27 January 2014. A Parwan MP and family members of the civilians killed two weeks ago during a confrontation between Taliban insurgents and coalition and Afghan forces in Ghorband District have called into question the accuracy of the recent report submitted to President Hamid Karzai on the incident.  

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Half of Afghan children suffer irreversible harm from malnutrition

AAN •

The Guardian, 26 January 2014 Emma Graham-Harrison, reporting from Samangan, point to the often neglected social side of events in Afghanistan: "More than half of Afghan girls and boys suffer damage to their minds and bodies that cannot be undone because they are poorly nourished in the crucial first two years of life", acoording to […]

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Afghan [Zazi Maidan] District Makes Own Peace

AAN •

IWPR, 20 January 2014 Residents say a local arrangement governed by "nerkh", part of customary law, has kept the peace in the district "to an extent rare in other parts of the country", IWPR reports. Although Zazi Maidan "shares a border with the restive northwest of Pakistan, people here say they are able to work […]

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