Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Sudhansu Verma

At Kabul airport, exodus of U.S. aid goes on

admin •

Washington Post, 20 July 2011 ‘More than a year after The Washington Post first disclosed American concerns about the airport, a report released Wednesday by the U.S. special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction concludes that attempts to choke off the exodus of cash have been plagued by a hard-to-fathom set of obstacles.The installation of currency-counting […]

Recommended Reads Read more

Well done, medium or ‘authentic’? – or: Reality is satire

AAN •

The following piece was published by the AFP. We did not make it up, we swear. Wanted: Afghan butcher class for US special forces AFP, 18/07/2011 WASHINGTON US special forces in Afghanistan are known for taking out militants in stealthy night raids but commanders now want them to learn how to butcher meat and cook […]

Context and Culture Read more

When personalities trump institutions: Two assassinations in Afghanistan

admin •

AfPak Channel, 18 July 2011 The killings of Ahmed Wali Karzai and Jan Muhammad ‘both are products of the modern way of war, men of enormous power born of contracting dollars and access to U.S. officials’, writes Anand Gopal. ‘[F]oreign forces funded an array of private militias that regularly acted outside the law (members of […]

Recommended Reads Read more

Afghanistan’s civilians in the crosshairs

admin •

Af PakChannel, 14 July 2011 OSI’s Erica Gaston comments on the latest UNAMA civilian casualties report which she calls ‘a chilling rebuttal to illusions that Afghanistan is moving toward greater stability’ and a grim reality check to over-optimistic reports by international military and civilian leaders that their strategy is successfully disrupting insurgent activities’. She demands […]

Recommended Reads Read more

Afghan Lawmakers Seek Audit of Second Bank

admin •

Wall Street Journal, 12 July 2011 Afghan parliamentarians pushed the government of President Hamid Karzai for a forensic audit of the country’s second largest lender, Azizi Bank, to search for what they said could be financial improprieties.

Recommended Reads Read more

Dictatorship of Arbaki in Konduz province

admin •

Suboot weekly (Kabul), 10 July 2011 The correspondents of this Afghan newspaper report from Kunduz that the speading ALP has’imposed fear and horror’ amongst the local population who only dare to speak anonymously. Then, they complain about forced payments of zakat, ALP involvement ‘in people’s transaction[s] including selling and buying of houses, land, commodities and […]

Recommended Reads Read more

Porous and Violent, Afghan-Tajik Border Is a Worry for the U.S.

admin •

New York Times, 9 July 2011 Apart from the US-centric headline (I think Afghans and Tajiks also must be worried), an interesting article on a part of Afghanistan’s borders which is rarely covered.

Recommended Reads Read more

6 July 2011 AAN’s Kate Clark in the Frontline Club

AAN • admin •

On 6 July, AAN’s Kate Clark will be on the panel of the prestigious Frontline Club in London discussing ‘Kill/Capture missions in Afghanistan’. Her AAN report on a bungled ‘intelligence-driven’ US Special Forces operation 2010 in Takhar province in Northern Afghanistan has made some waves. Following the targeted killing of Osama Bin Laden, the Frontline […]

Events Read more

4 July AAN New Report: Layha: Calling the Taleban to Account

AAN • admin •

The new report by Kate Clark, AAN Senior Analyst, discusses the Taleban Code of Conduct of the Layha. In the report, Clark uses the Layha as a means of analysing the Taleban itself and the movements changing concerns, but she also asks whether the Layha could be approached in much more practical terms, as a […]

Events Read more

Do the maths: victory cannot be bought in Afghanistan

admin •

The National (UAE), 1 July 2011 Some pretty interesting figures in this one: US military providing air conditioning for its troops in Iraq and Afghanistan comes out at $20 billion a year, more than the total budget of Nasa; by the time fuel reaches the US bases in Afghanistan, it costs $8 to $12 a […]

Recommended Reads Read more

An Elected Local Council Finds Democracy Tough In Afghanistan

admin •

Radio Free Europe, 30 June 2011 An interesting reportage about an elected district council in Nejrab (Kapisa) and its difficulties with local commanders and other parts of the administration. By the way we learn here that the US and the UK are pushing to create 100 such councils country-wide. It is not clear, though, whether […]

Recommended Reads Read more

Subscribe to receive updates from the Afghanistan Analysts Network

Sign up