Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Thomas Ruttig

He Confessed to an Afghanistan War Murder. The U.S. Military Promptly Closed the Case. 

The Intercept, 7 October 2026 In the spring of 2023, (…) an Army veteran of the Afghanistan War walked into the (…) police headquarters in Banning, California […] and acknowledged, according to exclusive criminal investigation documents obtained by The Intercept, that he killed an unarmed man and wounded a woman (…) in Afghanistan’s Arghandab River […]

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Russia courts the Taliban without dropping Pakistan

Asia Times, 5 October 2026 A very interesting and balanced analysis of the Russia-Pakistan-Taleban triangle, looking at 1) Russia’s invitation to the Taleban to send observers to a military exercise – in which also Pakistani troops participated; 2) reports, or rather rumours (as the author says), that the Taleban are buying drones and other weapons […]

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Armenian community grieving ‘mentor’ and ‘family’ Benon Sevan [former UN special rep for Afghanistan]

Cyprus Mail, 5 October 2026 In April 1988, he was appointed director and senior political advisor to the representative of the secretary-general on the settlement of the situation relating to Afghanistan. In January 1990, he was also asked to serve as the secretary-general’s representative on the implementation of the Geneva Agreements on Afghanistan. In January […]

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Afghanistan: 25 Years Since the US-Led Invasion [compilations of HRW reports]

Human Rights Watch, 5 October 2026 25 years since the latest war in Afghanistan began on 7 October 2001, the United States and coalition countries have yet to provide genuine justice or redress for war crimes and other grave abuses, Human Rights Watch said today, issuing a timeline of its reporting of the conflict.  After Al-Qaeda’s September 11 attacks on the […]

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Pakistan eskaliert wieder am Hindukusch

Tageszeitung, 1 October 2026 In the Berlin-based daily, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig reports Pakistan’s latest airstrikes on Afghanistan and summarises reports that, according to both Taleban and Afghan opposition sources, Pakistan supported – tacitly, at least – an incursion of a group of fighters of the armed anti-Taleban group, the AFF, from Pakistani soil into Nuristan […]

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Secret medical schools: How Afghanistan’s women are defying the training ban

The BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal), October 2026 In this article, AAN research is quoted as follows: The independent research organisation Afghanistan Analysts Network also cites evidence of women trainee doctors volunteering at hospitals in Kabul.

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Who is working to save Afghanistan’s ancient monuments?

Apollo Magazine, 29 September 2026 A detailed look into the continuing, but shrinking – due to funding shortfalls – activity to protect cultural heritage sites in Afghanistan, with the minaret of Jam and Herat’s musalla complex as focusses: Across Afghanistan, a dwindling pool of engineers and conservation specialists like Basim are trying to maintain the […]

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Afghanistan Remains at Risk of Measles Outbreaks Despite Decline in Cases, AAN Says

Kabul Tribune, 29 September 2026 Afghan media outlet, the Kabul Tribune, extensively summarises AAN’s latest report finding that Afghanistan remains vulnerable to measles outbreaks despite a sharp decline in cases following a nationwide vaccination campaign in late 2025, with uneven routine immunisation leaving many children unprotected.

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How Shakespeare explains the Taliban 

Unherd, 4 September 2026 And now, for something completely different…: Former President Ashraf Ghani has an appearance here as “America’s Prospero,” but the author misses one point when he writes about Shakespeare’s original Prospero that his “power is inseparable from his books.” He seems to have missed that also Ghani does not regret many more things […]

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Serbia: Turkish and Afghan nationals rescued after Belgrade kidnapping

Info Migrants, 1 Sept 2026 AAN research is quoted in this news article as context: Research by the Afghanistan Analysts Network describes how Afghan migrant-smuggling networks in the Balkans have become increasingly professionalized, transnational and, in some locations, violent criminal organizations that compete for control of border crossings and, in certain cases, have shifted from charging […]

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Left behind: The rights of victims in the aftermath of decades of armed conflict in Afghanistan

UNAMA, 1 September 2026 This new report by the UN’s political mission in Afghanistan looks at the civilian victims of the two decades of war between 2001 and 2021 and also briefly looks at some countries’ inquiries into the conduct of their own troops in Afghanistan. It says that more than 40,000 civilians were killed […]

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UNAMA Report on efforts of Afghanistan’s De Facto Authorities to provide accountability for de facto Security Forces 

UNAMA, 10 August 2026 The UNAMA report “finds that the de facto authorities have taken steps to promote discipline and oversight including through directives and internal monitoring units within the main security institutions and by establishing new bodies mandated to address misconduct of de facto security personnel (…), while such steps have been taken, they have not been accompanied […]

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