Thomas Ruttig

AAN Obituary: Doctor, general, minister, trailblazer Suhaila Sediq (1938-2020)

Thomas Ruttig •

General Dr Suhaila Sediq, one of two female ministers in the first post-Taleban government, died on 4 December 2020 from complications of a second Covid-19 infection. Sediq who had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for several years died in the same hospital she ran for over a quarter of a century until she was appointed Minister […]

10 Dec 2020

U.S. Leaves Behind Afghan Bases — and a Legacy of Land Disputes

New York Times, 8 December 2020 The US-led coalition in Afghanistan seized land for hundreds of military bases, often without the consent of the owners, most now held by the Afghan military. Villagers have fought for years to collect compensation and to get their property back, or to be paid their rent. Irrigation systems were […]

8 Dec 2020

Janus-Faced Pledges: A review of the 2020 Geneva donor conference on Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

The 2020 Afghanistan Conference in Geneva (which took place virtually) has produced pledges of 12 to 13 billion US dollars for the period 2021-24. The result represents a drop of up to 20 per cent compared to the 15.2 billion pledged four years ago in Brussels for 2017-20 and significantly below UNDP projections for the […]

30 Nov 2020

Towards the Intra-Afghan Negotiations: Views on possible break point issues, possible outcomes and the strategic environment

AUAF Institute of War and Peace Studies, Nov. 2020 Interesting discussion paper by Afghan scholar Muska Dastageer.  

30 Nov 2020

Neuausrichtung? Die Außenpolitik einer Regierung Biden, die NATO und Afghanistan

Deutschlandfunk, 25 November 2020 Listen to an audio of a 45 min discussion between about Biden’s future foreign policy, with a strong emphasis on Afghanistan (in German). Participants: Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, German Marshall Fund, Jana Puglierin, European Council on Foreign Relations, Thomas Ruttig, Afghanistan Analysts Network, Johannes Varwick, University Halle-Wittenberg.

25 Nov 2020

Pledging in Geneva: How much aid, and for what?

ODI Policy Note, November 2020 The authors try to (and do) answer key questions such as: How much aid does Afghanistan need? What directions should sound aid policy take? What should a partnership agreement for Afghanistan look like? How can donor assistance best be provided? How corruption – and one-sided Western accusations – can be […]

23 Nov 2020

COVID-19 Socio-Economic Impact Assessment: Fiscal Options in Response to Coronavirus Crisis

UNDP Country Note, 11 November 2020 The UNDP model simulations in this paper aim to quantify the fiscal space needed to cover economic losses caused by the pandemic with roughly unchanged policies, except for responses specific to the health crisis. The result is that Afghanistan would need approximately 30% more in grants from the international […]

23 Nov 2020

In Afghanistan, fears of assassination overshadow hopes of peace

The Guardian, 21 November 2020 AAN’s Kate Clark is quoted here on the wave of targeted killings in Afghanistan: “It feels quite random, in terms of who gets killed, but not random in terms of the types of people who get killed. They are targeting what I’d call public intellectuals, researchers, activists, journalists, people working […]

21 Nov 2020

Truppenabzug aus Afghanistan: Die [Taleban-]Parallelregierung

Tageszeitung, 21/22 November 2020 Op-ed article by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about how the Taleban’s parallel administrations in Afghanistan functions, based on AAN research from the series “One Land, Two Rules” and “Living under the Taleban” (in German).

21 Nov 2020

Truppenabzug aus Afghanistan: Nur noch 2.500 US-Soldaten

Tageszeitung, 18 November 2020 Op-ed by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig about Trump’s announcement about a swifter troop reduction in Afghanistan, what it means and the Taleban-related issues (links with al-Qaeda and violence levels) that put the US-Taleban agreement in question (in German).

18 Nov 2020

“Abzug spielt in die Hände der Taliban”

ARD-Tagesschau, 17 November 2020 Interview with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, published on the leading German public TV channel’s website, on Trump’s decision to further reduce US troop numbers in Afghanistan (in German): “This plays into the Taleban’s hands.”

17 Nov 2020

Trump will raschen Afghanistan-Abzug

AFP/Wiener Zeitung, 17 November 2020 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in this AFP Germany news item as saying, regarding the logistic challenges related to the hastened US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan (in German): Klar sei, dass die “nichtamerikanischen Truppen ohne die US-Soldaten nicht in Afghanistan bleiben könnten”, sagte der Afghanistan-Experte Thomas Ruttig der Nachrichtenagentur AFP. […]

17 Nov 2020