Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Thomas Ruttig

Election Date Fixed, but Questions Remain on Next Steps

Thomas Ruttig •

Afghanistan has a date for its next presidential elections: 5 April 2014. But today’s announcement by the Independent Election Commission of a timeline leading up to this date leaves questions open about its implementation. First, there are contradictory statements about whether the old, controversial voter cards will be used again. Second, the IEC aims at […]

Political Landscape Read more

Warning Bells over Slow Electoral Reform and Voter Registration for 2014

Thomas Ruttig •

A number of organisations have warned that electoral reform in the run-up to the 2014 polls in Afghanistan is moving too slowly. Two issues stand out: the lack of a voter registry and the lack of a revised electoral law. The recent argument about whether the future ECC should include UN-nominated members or not is […]

Political Landscape Read more

X-Factor Football: Afghanistan’s New Football Premier League

Thomas Ruttig •

Afghanistan’s first-ever professional football league has reached the semi-final stage. This has lifted Afghan football – which has been part of international football since the 1948 London Olympics – to a new level of organisation. For the first time, Afghanistan has a club competition, something which, in most countries, is the basis for selecting the […]

Context and Culture Read more

سیما سمر برنده جایزه «نوبل الترناتیف» شد

Thomas Ruttig •

Deutsche Welle (Farsi-Programme), 27 September 2012 Article about Sima Samar winning the ‘alternative Nobel price’, quotes AAN’s Thomas Ruttig: توماس روتیش، یکی از دو مدیر شبکه تحلیلگران افغانستان به خبرگزاری آلمان گفت که سیما سمر «در یک محیط بسیار نامساعد» به حیث رییس کمیسیون مستقل حقوق بشر کار کرده است. به گفته او، این کمیسیون […]

AAN in the Media Read more

Ambiguity Reiterated: The 20-parties ‘Democracy Charter’

Thomas Ruttig •

Most of Afghanistan’s major political parties have put their differences on many issues aside and made a rare joint statement. In their ‘Democracy Charter’, they demand that the 2014 presidential elections are held on time and according to the constitution. They also call for a stronger role for political parties in making decisions about major […]

Political Landscape Read more

The Haqqani Network Blacklisted: From US Asset to Special Foe

Thomas Ruttig •

Earlier this month, the US government blacklisted the Haqqani network, labelling it a ‘foreign terrorist organisation’. Leaving aside the pros and cons of this decision, which have been fairly widely discussed, AAN co-director Thomas Ruttig looks at other questions: why did the blacklisting happen so late and why is the network singled out from the […]

International Engagement Read more

Das Scheitern der Luftlande-Demokratie in Afghanistan: Die Bonner Vereinbarungen von 2001 und die versandete Demokratisierung am Hindukusch – ein Blick von innen

Thomas Ruttig •

Thomas Ruttig, in: Marléne Neumann, Michael Schied and Diethelm Weidemann (eds), Afghanistan: Probleme, Konflikte, Perspektiven, Studien zur Geschichte und Gegenwart Asiens, vol. 3, Berlin: trafo Wissenschaftsverlag, pp 41-52. Full pdf of German article “Das Scheitern der Luftlande-Demokratie in Afghanistan: Die Bonner Vereinbarungen von 2001 und die versandete Demokratisierung am Hindukusch – ein Blick von innen” […]

External publications Read more

Back to Qatar? Talks about talks, again

Thomas Ruttig •

This summer has brought news that indicated that talks between the US and the Taleban (or even the Afghan government and the Taleban) might possibly be rekindled. It all started rather sensationally with a member of the Taleban leadership publicly attending an (academic) conference, moving on to speculations about Pakistan allowing Kabul access to an […]

War and Peace Read more

Afghan Politicking after the Rebellion in Tajik Badakhshan (amended)

Thomas Ruttig •

After a week of fighting, events in Tajikistan’s part of Badakhshan are quietening down. While a lot has been made in some media outlets of a possible cross-border Taleban link, events seem to have their background in the drug economy rather. On the Afghan side of the border politicking as a side-effect of the events […]

Regional Relations Read more

Afghan-led? or: People with one name only

Thomas Ruttig •

Tom Peter, the Christian Science Monitor correspondent in Kabul, just wrote a story how US soldiers in Arghandab district had denied him access for 90 minutes to the local district governor with whom he had scheduled an interview and who did not want him to bring in his tape recorder. He wondered ‘how much control […]

Context and Culture Read more

Clashes in Eastern Tajikistan – with Afghan Participation?

Thomas Ruttig •

Local media speak of ‘unprecedented violence’, after Tajik security forces have started a ‘special operation’ against what the government in Dushanbe calls an ‘armed, illegal group involved in drug trafficking and also tobacco smuggling and the trafficking of minerals’, following the murder of a high-ranking security official. Interestingly, it has claimed there were Afghan citizens […]

Regional Relations Read more

Written in Ice? Protests after the public execution of a woman in Parwan

Obaid Ali •

There have been fresh demonstrations condemning the public execution of a young woman, Najiba, in a Taleban-controlled village in a province just to the north of Kabul in June. The video of the execution, which was shown across the world, alerted many to how near the capital Taleban ‘rule’ extended. However, the target of the […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

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