Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Sudhansu Verma

11 December 2012, Washington: AAN’s Vendrell and Ruttig at USIP Event

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‘Elections, Reconciliation, and the Final Two Years of Afghanistan’s Transition: Perspectives from the International Community’ is the title of two panel discussions at USIP in Washington DC coming week. From AAN, Francesc Vendrell, chairman of the Advisory Board, and Thomas Ruttig will participate. As the clock winds down on the final two years of Afghanistan’s […]

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U.S. Commandos’ New Landlord in Afghanistan: Blackwater

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Danger Room/Wired, 5 December 2012 ‘U.S. Special Operations Forces have a brand new home in Afghanistan’ writes the security blog Danger Room. It’s owned and operated by the security company formerly known as Blackwater, now called Academi, ‘thanks to a no-bid deal worth $22 million. […] Academi’s private 10-acre compound outside Kabul, called Camp Integrity, […]

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Council of Ministers Removes Election Complaints Commission

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Afghanistan’s Electoral Complaints Commission will not only not have any UN-mandated international members, it will cease to exist. This has been decided by the Afghan cabinet. In its place, the highly controversial Special (Elections) Court will be responsible for dealing with election-related complaints. ToloNews, 4 December 2012 Afghanistan’s Electoral Complaints Commission will not only not […]

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Afghanistan’s displaced dread the coming winter

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Los Angeles Times, 1 December 2012 An under-reported minority: ‘Afghanistan is home to 460,000 internally displaced people, Afghans who have fled war, strife or famine in other parts of the country. More than 30,000 have settled in illegal camps around Kabul in search of jobs and shelter

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Disputed Ownership of Afghan Site Used by NATO

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IWPR, 30 November 2012 According to the governor of the province, the US military has purchased land for a base in southern Logar – where it even has swallowed part of the main Kabul-Gardez road – from six people who even didn’t own it. The deal was done when late Abdullah Wardak – a Sayyaf […]

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‘Antaam’ statt ‘Itaam’: Nato muss Mission in Afghanistan umtaufen

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Spiegel online, 28 November 2012 NATO has decided to rename its post-2014 mission. Initially it was supposed to be called ‘International Training, Assistance and Advisory Mission (ITAAM). They found that too close to ‘Etteham’ (or Ittiham), a Dari word for ‘accusation’. The new name will be ANTAAM (Afghan Nato Training, Advisory and Assistance Mission).

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U.S. Planning a Force to Stay in Afghanistan

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New York Times, 26 November 2012 US and NATO planners are ‘drawing up the broad outlines of a force that would remain in Afghanistan following the handover to Afghan security after 2014’. This would include ‘a small [US] counterterrorism force with an eye toward Al Qaeda’ of ‘less than 1,000’ as well as ‘about 10,000 […]

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30 Nov/1 Dec 2012, Bonn: Medica mondiale conference with AAN participation

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‘Hope for peace and fear for women’s rights in Afghanistan: Does violence against women endanger the peace process?’ is the title of a two-day conference, German women’s rights NGO Medica Mondiale is organising in cooperation with the Evangelic Academy in Bonn Bad Godesberg on 30 November 30 and 1 December 2012. AAN’s co-director Thomas Ruttig […]

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National Ulema Council Seeks More Executive Power

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ToloNews, 24 November 2012 The Ulema Council of Afghanistan is seeking more authority via the establishment of a new Dar al-Ifta – a scholarly institute with the authority to issue binding decrees concerning Islamic law or ‘fatwas’. The council discussed their demand with President Hamid Karzai on Friday during a meeting requested by the president […]

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Petraeus: More myth than man

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Global Post, 16 November 2012 Jean MacKenzie has collected a few opinions – and facts – why Gen Petraeus was over-lionised: According to the New Yorker’s John Lee Abderson ‘lionization by admiring and opportunistic politicians and fawning journalists and biographers has been craven and boundless’.

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