Thomas Ruttig

Attacked and Vulnerable: Afghan ethnic groups form own armies in response to militant attacks

New York Times/Irish Times, 23 June 2021 A brief quote from recent AAN research by Ali Yawar Adili in this article printed in both nwspapers: “For the first time in 20 years, power brokers are speaking publicly about mobilising armed men,” the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a research group in Kabul, wrote in a June 4th […]

23 Jun 2021

Afghanistan – The Third Wave

RTE podcast, 17 June 2021 Listen to a podcast of Irish TV/radio with AAN’s Rohullah Surush: After 20 years of war and over half the country living in poverty, Afghanistan has been hit with a third wave – its worst yet – of Govid-19. Rohullah Sorush of the Afghanistan Analysts’ Network in Kabul is the […]

17 Jun 2021

AAN Dossier XXVIII: Afghanistan in the Covid-19 Crisis

AAN Team •

Afghanistan has just entered the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic amid an unprecedented rise in confirmed cases, relatively unprepared. Apparently due to the relatively modest numbers during the second wave in November 2020, many Afghans became complacent about following health protocols and taking preventive measures. Complacency seems to have also been a factor in […]

17 Jun 2021

Afghanistan: Gefährliche Nachbarschaft

Deutsche Welle, 14 June 2021 This analysis of the power balance in the region around Afghanistan on the website of Germany’s international public broadcaster extensively quotes from an interview with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig (in German).

14 Jun 2021

Taliban zwischen Terror-Strategie und Machtbeteiligung

Deutsche Welle, 11 June 2021 Summary of an interview with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about the Taleban’s post-troop withdrawal strategy on the website of Germany’s international public broadcaster extensively quotes from an (in German).

11 Jun 2021

Covid-19 in Afghanistan (9): Into the third wave

Thomas Ruttig • Rohullah Sorush •

Afghanistan has entered the third wave of the Coronavirus pandemic amid an unprecedented rise in confirmed cases. Doctors in various provinces detected signs of the impending new wave soon after the start of the Afghan new year (21 March), but the government only imposed contact restrictions on 28 May and enlisted religious scholars to urge […]

11 Jun 2021

Impending closure of US base at Bagram spurs Afghan army recruiting to hold the airfield

Stars and Stripes, 7 June 2021 U.S. and NATO forces are expected to hand over Bagram Airfield to the Afghan military in about 20 days, or by the end of this month. Local officials have also been told to help the military find recruits to defend Bagram, he said. The base’s transition to the Afghan military […]

7 Jun 2021

Taliban setzen Offensive fort

dpa/Wiener Zeitung, 6 June 2021 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in this news item of German News Agency on the continued Taleban offensive in Afghanistan (in German): Der Afghanistan-Experte Thomas Ruttig von der Kabuler Denkfabrik Afghanistan Analysts Network streicht das aktuelle Tempo der Angriffe hervor. “Die Eroberung von mehreren Distrikten in wenigen Tagen hat es […]

6 Jun 2021

Gewalt, Armut, neue Flucht-Afghanistan: Neue Debatte über Abschiebestopp

ZDF, 4 June 2021 This article on the website of the second largest German public TV broadcaster briefly quotes AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about Afghanistan’s “very dire security situation” in the context of criticism of Germany’s continued deportations of Afghans into the war zone.

4 Jun 2021

Unvorbereitet in die dritte Welle: Afghanistan kämpft in der Coronapandemie

Tageszeitung, 1 June 2021 Op-ed by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, Rohullah Sorush and Reza Kazemi in the Berlin-based daily about the outbreak of the third Covid-19 wave in Afghanistan (in German).

1 Jun 2021

Nicht alles düster für Afghanistan: Wiederaufbau erfordert auch regionale Kooperation

nd, 31 May 2021 AAN’s Ali Yawar Adili is quoted in this article discussing different scenarios, including on a future reconstruction of Afghanistan – Ali with a more sceptical view on new regional rivalry triggered by President Ghani’s connctivity projects: Glaubt man dem afghanischen Präsidenten Aschraf Ghani, dann habe sein Land nun die Chance, alle […]

31 May 2021

Afghanistan: Gewalt und etwas Diplomatie

Süddeutsche Zeitung, 30 May 2021 AAN research on the Taleban’s parallel government and AAN’s Thomas Ruttig are quoted in this article by one of the leading German dailies, on scenarios for a future Afghanistan: “Die Taliban werden warten, bis die ausländischen Truppen wirklich weg sind und dann anfangen, einen eigenen Gesprächsfaden zu spinnen, ihre eigenen […]

30 May 2021