Thomas Ruttig

زنجیره سقوط خانواده‌ها در افغانستان [The chain of family collapse in Afghanistan]

Afghanistan International, 26 August 2026 Tahir Qadiry gives a long interview to the Afghan exile media platform, reflecting about AAN latest report, “Pushed to the Limits: The struggle to survive deepening poverty in Afghanistan.”

26 Aug 2026

Die letzten Tage von Kabul/ Les derniers jours de Kaboul

ARTE, 25 August 2026 A three-part documentary by Lucio Molina on what led to the US/Western withdrawal from Afghanistan and subsequent collapse of ‘Kabul’, looking back at the 40 years of its preceding history, featuring, among others – such as Ashraf Ghani, Yunos Qanuni, Abdul Rashid Dostum, Zalmay Khalilzad, Nader Naderi, Asila Wardak, Karl Eikenberry […]

25 Aug 2026

A look at the devastating impact of USAID cuts in rural Afghanistan

PBS, 25 August 2026 It’s been 18 months since the Trump administration made cuts to foreign aid. One of the countries hardest-hit is Afghanistan. In January 2025, the Trump administration terminated more than $1.7 billion in assistance, causing a major strain on the system and putting women and children throughout the country at risk. In a […]

25 Aug 2026

Af­gha­n*in­nen in Iran: Im Visier des Regimes

Tageszeitung, 21 August 2026 In this guest article for the German daily, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig looks at the participation, arrest, killing and executions of Afghans after the January protests in Iran, including the latest execution – one day before – of 20 year-old Qaem Hosseini in Isfahan, accused by the regime of involvement in the […]

21 Aug 2026

Five years into Taliban rule, Afghanistan plunges into a state of collapse – visualised

The Guardian, 15 August 2026 Some very useful graphs on Afghanistan’s socio-economic situation five years after the second coming of the Taleban – although the province of Ghor is misspelled (in the graph for child marriages). Particularly striking is the one that compares its relation between population and economic growth with other countries of the […]

15 Aug 2026

So paradox herrschen die Taliban [The Taliban’s Paradoxical Rule]

Spiegel, 15 August 2026 Veteran Afghanistan reporter Christoph Reuter looks back at five years of the Taleban’s second rule. (in German): Afghanistan, five years after the Taliban came to power, appears to be a changing picture: Depending on your perspective, the “Emirate” is a success in terms of state building, economy and infrastructure compared to […]

15 Aug 2026

“Sie schießen auf die Beine” [Afghanistans zersplitterte Opposition]

Tageszeitung, 15 August 2026 In this guest article for Berlin-based daily newspaper article, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig first looks briefly back at five years of renewed Taleban rule and then, more in detail, at the status of Afghanistan’s fragmented protest an opposition, movement between pro and cons of armed resistance, polarised discussions about Afghanistan’s future political […]

15 Aug 2026

Five years after the Taliban swept to power, does the West have any influence?

BBC, 14 August 2026 Lyse Doucet’s look at the debate about whether and how to talk with the Taleban regime, and the UN’s role in it, even if progress – if there is some at all – is very limited. “A stalled process is better than no process,” emphasises Georgette Gagnon, a deputy special representative […]

14 Aug 2026

Die Isolation der Taliban bröckelt

nd, 13 August 2026 In this guest article for the leftist German newspaper, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig looks at the Taleban’s “crumbling” diplomatic isolation, identifying to major trends: governments in the region and Asia normalising because of their interest in regional economic connectivity, while many Europe pursue ‘technical’ contacts in order to be able to deport […]

13 Aug 2026

Afghanistan, Five Years of Taliban Rule: An Assessment

Thomas Ruttig •

ISPI, 12 August 2025 AAN contributed two contributions to a dossier, “Afghanistan, Five Years of Taliban Rule: An Assessment” by free lance journalist and long-time Afghanistan watcher Giuliano Battiston and published by ISPI, the Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (Italian Institute for International Political Studies) in Rome. First, under the title “Back to […]

12 Aug 2026

Merz’s deal with the Taliban alarms Afghan dissidents in Germany

Politico, 12 August 2026 One of the first more detailed overviews on the German discussion about what the article’s author terms German chancellor Friedrichshafen Merz’s ‘Faustian’ deportation deal with the Taleban, a taboo breaker in the EU.

12 Aug 2026

‘Where will I go?’: Afghan refugees in Germany fear Taliban’s diplomatic return

The National, 10 August 2026 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in this look at Germany’s and the EU’s evolving deportation-motivated relations with the Taleban regime. Generally, European governments are “very non-transparent” when discussing the forced return of Afghans, Mr Ruttig said. “That also shows that they know that there is headwind against that in civil […]

10 Aug 2026