Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Thomas Ruttig

Afghanistan – Flucht vor dem vergessenen Krieg

AAN •

RBB-Inforadio, 6 September 2015 AAN’s Borhan Osman can be heard in this 15-minutes feature (from 3:30), covering the security situation in Northern Afghanistan (reporting from an IDP camp in Dehdadi, near Mazar-e Sharif, inhabited by people who fled from Shirin Tagab); the changes in the Taleban leadership and IS inroads; German training in Mazar…

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Taliban tightening hold in strategic southern Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

dpa, 5 September 2015 The English service of the biggest German news agency has a quoted from AAN’s latest dispatch on Musa Qala, by Thomas Ruttig, on the (drug) economic mportance of the district “The (Musa Qala) district centre hosts a major drug bazaar at the heart of Helmand’s poppy production area,” said Thomas Ruttig, […]

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A view of Musa Qala. Source: UK Forces blog (2010).

The Second Fall of Musa Qala: How the Taleban are expanding territorial control

Thomas Ruttig •

While Afghanistan’s northern provinces – mainly Kunduz, Faryab and Sar-e Pul – have been in the media’s focus on this year’s Taleban offensive, fighting in their southern Afghan strongholds has geared up too. Within one month the Taleban were able to capture two district centres in Helmand, Musa Qala (still contested) and Nawzad. This combines […]

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Death of Mullah Omar dashes hopes of peace with Taliban

AAN •

The National, 2 September 2015 The Dubai-based daily quotes AAN’s Borhan Osman on the now suspended Murree talks:  The Murree talks were intended “to create enough momentum, so that those in Qatar and elsewhere jump in”, a Kabul-based western diplomat who know why the US supports the talks, told Borhan Osman, a researcher with the […]

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Afghanische Taliban auf dem Vormarsch: Der zweite Verlust von Musa Qala

Thomas Ruttig •

Tageszeitung, 31 August 2015 Guest article by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about the fall and recapture of symbolic Musa Qala district in Helmand. Behind it he sees a (continued) Taleban strategy to slowly gain territory  in peripheral areas and lead a war of attrition, hoping that the government comes under pressure with the shrinking of external aid.

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Fredshoppet borta – nu blir IS starkare

AAN •

Dagens Nyheter, 27 August 2015 AAN’s Kate Clark is quoted in the Swedish daily  as saying: Vad har då talibanerna för motiv till att återgå till våldet? Kate Clark, tidigare BBC-korrespondent i Afghanistan och numera anställd på det Kabulbaserade analysföretaget Afghanistan Analysts Network, lutar åt att upptrappningen är ett försök att visa styrka utåt och […]

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‘아프간 IS’, 머지않았다? (Will ‘Afghan IS’ be the dominant force in the country?)

Thomas Ruttig •

Hankyoreh 21, 19 August 2015 The South Korean journal gives an appraisal of the security situation in Afghanistan, with quotes from AAN’s Thomas Ruttig. Apart from the IS, the triple bombs in Kabul and the peace process after Mullah Omar’s death are scrutinised.  

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The expedition after their arrival in Kabul, with Hentig (seated, 2nd from left) and Niedermayer (seated 3rd from l.). Photo from: Niedermayer's book, In der Glutsonne Irans.

Afghanistan in World War I (2): “England must lose India” – Afghanistan as a German bridgehead

Thomas Ruttig •

100 years ago and a good year after the outbreak of World War I, a German political-military mission crossed the border into Afghanistan on the night of 19 to the 20 August 1915. Oskar Ritter von Niedermayer and Werner Otto von Hentig, a Bavarian military officer and a Prussian diplomat, both with Persian experience, led the […]

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Strengthening Taliban

Thomas Ruttig •

Kashmir Watch, 18 August 2015 In this article-cum-opinion piece, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted: ‘The attacks on Friday, which included a massive truck bomb in a heavily populated civilian area and a suicide attack on a police academy, were some of the most serious in months and the first in Kabul since the Taliban named […]

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Rampant Taliban, cowering Kabul

Thomas Ruttig •

Daily Times, 17 August 2015 Another quote in an opinion piece in a Pakistani daily of AAN’s Thomas Ruttig – under a headline that seems to be lopsided: If Mansoor is “playing to his own audience and trying to consolidate his position”, as Thomas Ruttig of the Afghan Analysts Network believes, the Taliban insurgency will […]

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Who Controls the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan?

AAN •

The Diplomat, 15 August 2015 Listen to a podcast of a discussion that includes AAN’s Obaid Ali. , assistant country director and researcher at the Afghanistan Analysts Network, to discuss the increased activity of insurgents in northern Afghanistan. Ali notes a number of reasons for increased Taliban activity in Kunduz province, including less support from the […]

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A gentler Taliban wield an iron fist

AAN •

New York Times, 15 August 2015 A reportage from Baghran district in Helmand “where the Taliban were scarcely ever out of power” – “fficially, the Afghan government acknowledges having lost only four out of roughly 400 districts to the Taliban. Of these, Baghran was the first to fall, about a decade ago, ” “There is […]

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