Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Thomas Ruttig

Obama’s Lists: A Dubious History of Targeted Killings in Afghanistan

AAN •

Spiegel, 28 December 2014 Combat operations in Afghanistan may be coming to an end, but a look at secret NATO documents reveals that the US and the UK were far less scrupulous in choosing targets for killing than previously believed. Drug dealers were also on the lists, called JPEL. […] The documents suggest that sometimes […]

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NATO troops end one Afghanistan mission, start another / Das Ende der langen ISAF-Mission

Thomas Ruttig •

Deutsche Welle, 27 December 2014 German international radio, in its year-ender, quotes, among others, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig: “The ISAF mission hasn’t solved the main problem in Afghanistan,” said Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the “Afghan Analyst Network” based in Kabul and Berlin. “The war is not over yet, dismantling the Taliban came to nothing, insurgences have […]

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Thomas Ruttig on 2014 elections, Democracy and Political Transitions in Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

In conversation with one of the co-founders of AAN Thomas Ruttig on 2014 elections, democracy and governance in Afghanistan.

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Afghanistans ungewisse Zukunft

Thomas Ruttig •

Schwäbische Zeitung, 24 December 2014 Op-ed by AAN co-director Thomas Ruttig in this southern German daily, about the 2015 prospects for Afghanistan: The optimism after the establishment of the national unity government starts fading, with a dangerous economic crisis looming and developmental gains eaten up by the security situation that is not improving.

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Afghanistan’s Still-Broken Government

AAN •

The American Conservative, 23 December 2014 Reporting, among other things, about Secretary Kerry’s role in brokering the government of national unity, the author says: “For a deeper dive into the details, see the Afghan [sic] Analysts Network’s take.)” The longer sequences from Martine van Bijlert’s dispatch follow: According to Martine van Bijlert at AAN, “Ghani and Abdullah […]

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Dem einen Pfründe, den anderen Armut/Gewalt und Hoffnung in Afghanistan: Kabul unter dem neuen Präsidenten Aschraf Ghani

Thomas Ruttig •

Neues Deutschland, 22 December 2014 The Berlin-based daily reprints shortened versions of my (German language) November 2014 impressions from Kabul, from my website Afghanistan Zhaghdablai, here and here (subscribers only).

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Kabul Bank: glitzy facade, foul credits. Photo: ToloNews

AAN Podcasts: Martine van Bijlert talks Kabul Bank

Thomas Ruttig •

Regular visitors to the AAN website will have noticed that we have added an additional channel to our publications: podcasts. Although we already posted some podcasts earlier on (visit the archive here), you will be able to literally hear from us more regularly, from now on. We start our new podcast series with a comment […]

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After Pivotal 2014, Afghanistan Faces New Challenges With Less Help

AAN •

Voice of America, 22 December 2014 On its website, the US government radio, in its preview on Afghanistan’s 2015 challenges, extensively quotes AAN’s Kate Clark on the working relationship in the government of national unity and the general situation: “We have got the [political] transition, we have got the two men in place. They strive […]

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Fears build as CIA’s ‘ghost prisoners’ vanish into Afghan jails

AAN •

The Observer, 20 December 2014 The Guardian’s former Afghanistan correspondent Emma Graham-Harrison – now the daily’s diplomatic correspondent – is back with a piece about Afghanistan: about the fact that, with the closure of the US-run prison in Bagram, former CIA ‘ghost prisosers’ “whose treatment set the torture template in the agency’s notorious Salt Pit … […]

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Afghanistan – Ende einer Mission

Thomas Ruttig •

RBB-Inforadio, 20 December 2014 Listen to a 38-minutes interview (in German) with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, drawing a balance of the now ending ISAF mission – covering security, development, terrorism and the insurgency. Also available as a podcast, here.

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Ruttig: “Konzession an Pakistans Militär”

Thomas Ruttig •

Deutsche Welle, 18 December 2014 Interview (in German) with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, discussing the condemnation by the Afghan Taleban of the Peshawar school massacre committed by their Pakistani namesakes. Thomas opines that it might be a “concession” to the Pakistani military from the support of which the Afghan Taleban still rely to a large extent.

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Afghanistan’s New Millionaires

AAN •

Business Week, 18 December 2014 “The Americans started Matie [from Nawa district] on his road to prosperity”, writes Mujib Mashal, one of Afghanistan’s most outstanding journalists. Matie was part of a pattern. “As hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer money poured into the country, it created a new class of wealthy, entrepreneurial Afghans. […]

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