Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Thomas Ruttig

Can Afghanistan Manage to Hold an Election in 2018?

AAN •

The Diplomat, 13 December 2017 In this article, AAN research is extensively quoted: In September 2016, the Afghan parliament passed a new electoral law, which paved the way for the setting of an election date but also passed the “most controversial and complicated changes” onto the IEC, as Ali Yawar Adili and Martine van Bijlert […]

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In Afghanistan, today’s pro-government militias could be tomorrow’s insurgents

AAN •

War on the Rocks (blog), 11 December 2017 This entry by Deedee Derksen has a lot of links to AAN analysis.

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In Afghanistan, Today’s Pro-Government Militias Could Be Tomorrow’s Insurgents

AAN •

War on the Rocks, 11 December 2017 This blog entry by Deedee Derksen analysing Afghan militias has some interesting findings on Jombesh commanders having joined the Taleban in five districts of Faryab. It also quotes from (and links to) two AAN dispatches by Obaid Ali about the character of self-proclaimed Daeash groups in neighbouring Jowzjan: […]

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U.S. Bombing of Afghan Drug Labs Won’t Crush the Taliban

AAN •

International Crisis Group, 11 December 2017 Ex-AAN colleague Borhan Osman’s analysis of the ‘new’ US strategy of bombing drug labs in Afghanistan and its futility: … a coercive counter-narcotics campaign will solve neither the country’s poppy boom nor the Taliban’s profiting from it, which has long depended to an extraordinary extent on very local dynamics. […]

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These are Afghanistan’s best troops. The U.S. is backing a plan to create many more of them

AAN •

Los Angeles Times, 10 December 2017 In this article about the Afghan special forces, AAN is quoted: A recent commentary published by the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a Kabul-based research organization, said the strategy also could paper over the problem that the regular army and police “are apparently not up to their main task, which would […]

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Taliban-Vormarsch: Der Krieg in Afghanistan kehrt zurück

Thomas Ruttig •

Kronenzeitung, 9 December 2017 The leading Austrian tabloid, looking at three months under the new US Afghanistan strategy, quotes AAN’s Thomas Ruttig on (not progressing) peace talks, without saying where it quotes him from (the paper did not talk to him): “Aber so ist das eben in diesen Konflikten – es ist mühsame Kleinarbeit”, sagt Ruttig. […]

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Narges Nehan, President Ghani's nominee for the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, was the only one among twelve minister candidates who was denied a vote of confidence by the Afghan lower house on 6 December 2017. Here, when she was introduced as acting minister in March 2017. Photo: ToloNews

Afghanistan Has Now a Constitutional Cabinet: Eleven minister candidates received votes of confidence

AAN Team • Thomas Ruttig •

For almost a year, more than half of Afghanistan’s cabinet members were in an acting minister capacity only, putting their legitimacy into question. In late November 2017, the President finally had 12 minister candidates introduced to parliament. They faced votes of confidence on 4 December 2017. All but one – the only woman – passed. […]

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Madina, The 6-Year-Old Afghan Girl Who Will Never See London

AAN •

AFP, 9 December 2017 The heartbreaking-story of the Afghan girl that was crushed by a train at the Serbian-Croatian border when her family desperately tried to enter Europa that is more-and-more self-insulating against refugees.

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America Can’t Win the Drug War in Afghanistan

AAN •

The National Interest, 5 December 2017 The US magazine has a short quote (and a link to) AAN’s recent analysis of the UNODC opium survey: An evaluation of the UN report from the Afghan Analysis Network aptly concluded that opium is “a low-risk crop in a high-risk environment.”

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Afghanistan in Two Charts (Bombs dropped over Afghanistan)

AAN •

Mother Jones, 5 December 2017 The US magazine has processed US CENTCOM data into interesting charts. In the accompanying text, AAN’s Kate Clark is quoted: “The U.S. military is becoming less transparent, and it’s a pity because they had worked really hard — and succeeded — in reducing civilian casualties,” said Kate Clark, co-director of […]

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U.S. airstrikes rise sharply in Afghanistan — and so do civilian deaths

AAN •

Los Angeles Times, 4 December 2017 This article tells the story of civilian casualties causes by an US airstrike in Nangrahar province – which is denied by the US military – and looks at current trends in the US air war in Afghanistan. AAN’s Kate Clark is quoted about that: “The U.S. military is becoming […]

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