Thomas Ruttig

‘No one bothered’: Afghan mother waits for son held in Guantanamo

AFP/al-Jazeera, 19 October 2020 AAN’s Kate Clark is quoted in this article looking at one of the last Afghan detainees in Guantánamo (via AFP): Kate Clark, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a leading research group on the country, said Haroon was no significant terrorist figure. The allegations against Haroon, initially kept secret until revealed […]

19 Oct 2020

Konfliktporträt Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 29 September 2020 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig has been writing a ‘conflict portrait’ of Afghanistan for the website of the German Federal Centre for Political Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, bpb) for several years now. the bpb is a major source for teachers and school students. Here is the latest version, update […]

19 Oct 2020

Living with the Taleban (1): Local experiences in Andar district, Ghazni province

Sahil Afghan •

Today, we publish the first of three studies exploring how the Taleban rule, and the impact of that rule on residents. Given that the talks in Doha may presage an Afghan state with key positions held by the Taleban or that, at the very least, the pattern of the Taleban controlling particular localities will continue, understanding […]

19 Oct 2020

The Intra-Afghan Peace Talks: Warring parties negotiate, victims of war are excluded

Ehsan Qaane •

A clear divide has emerged in the Afghan government on the role of war victims in the peace process. In a surprising move, President Ashraf Ghani recently suggested that Afghanistan should follow the Spanish model – better known as the ‘pact of forgetting’. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Peace and members of the Afghan negotiating team […]

16 Oct 2020

National Victim-Centred Network’s resolution on war victims’ rights

Presented on 14 September 2020, as a result of the Conference of War Victims’ families and relatives on the start of Intra-Afghan Peace Talks “The entire peace process must be victim-centered, just and aimed at healing the wounds of victims of war and avoiding future recurrence of violence and crime.” Resolution Conference of War Victims’ families and relatives on the start of Intra-Afghan […]

16 Oct 2020

Covid-19 in Afghanistan (8): The political economy repercussions of Covid-19 and the aid response

Bill Byrd •

In addition to its disastrous public health effects on Afghanistan, the Covid-19 pandemic is harming the country’s economy and has pushed more people into poverty. Covid is also creating a sizable hole in the national budget, diverting precious aid resources away from development and any possible ‘peace dividend’ and complicating rather than simplifying current political […]

14 Oct 2020

Tens Of Thousands Flee Latest Taliban Offensive, And Afghan Civilian Casualties Rise

NPR, 13 October 2020 AAN’s Ali Yawar Adili is quoted in this news item on the Taleban attack near Lashkargah on US National Public Radio (also in audio format), saying Such an attack will impact the peace process because there is already growing anger at the intensification of violence in many provinces.

13 Oct 2020

Los talibanes aplauden la sugerencia de Trump de retirar todas sus tropas de Afganistán para Navidad

El País, 8 October 2020 AAN co-director Thomas Ruttig is quoted here (in Spanish translation) about Trump’s latest, confusing (or confused) tweet saying all US soldiers “should” be out by Christmas, saying that although it is unlikely that this becomes policy, “a unilateral decision” by the US president can’t be ruled out and that such […]

8 Oct 2020

Afghanistan Donor Conference 2020: Pitfalls and Possibilities

USIP, 7 October 2020 Bill Byrd’s look ahead at the next (of the almost annual) donor conferences, this time in Geneva, hosted by the UN, as no single donor volunteered to host it. One of the author’s conclusions: … the outcome of the donors meeting … is uncertain: It could effectively promote development and peace […]

7 Oct 2020

Afghan peace talks

Himal, 5 October 2020 AAN’s report about Afghanistan as a rentier state features in the Southasiasphere podcast of the South Asia-focussed online journal: There’s this report from May this year in the Afghan [sic] Analysts Network which looks at you know what the impact of foreign aid has been in Afghan economy and also in […]

5 Oct 2020

Afghanistan needs to invest in its people—now more than ever

World Bank blog, 4 October 2020 The headline is misleading on the harsh realities the text describes, Afghanistan’s grave deficites – despite some progress – in education and health and the gender gap.

4 Oct 2020

The impact of COVID-19 on older persons [in Afghanistan]

Samuel Hall.org, September 2020 The migration and displacement-focused social enterprise has looked at the growing elderly population of the country under the Covid19 pandemic and found that “Government ministries advised those over age 60 to remain inside their homes to minimize spread of the virus. Elderly women had higher rates of exposure, given their roles […]

30 Sep 2020