Thomas Ruttig

Trusts [sic] in harmony seem, by all accounts, to be sneaking away in Afghanistan

Pajhwok News Agency, 17 May 2020 This opinion piece by the Kabul-based news agency quotes AAN’s Kate Clark: “The Taliban have created an enabling environment for this kind of attack. If they had agreed a ceasefire it would be much harder for any group to carry out this kind of attack,” said Kate Clark, co-executive of the […]

17 May 2020

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah sign power-sharing deal

The National, 17 May 2020 AAN’s Ali Yawar Adili is quoted here with analysis of the signing of the political agreement between President Ghani and Dr Abdullah: “This is the second time in a row that a presidential election has proved destabilising,” Ali Adili, a researcher with the Afghanistan Analysts Network, told The National. “Afghanistan’s electoral […]

17 May 2020

Covid-19 in Afghanistan (3): Distributing aid and changing aid politics – view from a Herati village

S Reza Kazemi •

At a time when coronavirus-related aid in Afghanistan is becoming a topic of heated discussion, and the cause of some unfortunate violent incidents, the aid that flowed into a rural community in Afghanistan’s western province of Herat was bitterly and deeply contested. With the day-to-day rhythm of life in this already impoverished village troubled by […]

16 May 2020

Why this hospital attack is pushing Afghans toward ‘tipping point’

Christian Science Monitor, 15 May 2020 This article in the US online daily quotes AAN’s Kate Clark as commenting on the current upsurge of fighting activity in Afghanistan and prospects for peace talks, via al-Jazeera: “If you look around Afghanistan today and the last few weeks, it looks like a normal spring offensive to me,” […]

15 May 2020

Hopes for peace appear to be slipping away in Afghanistan

The Guardian, 15 May 2020 AAN’s Kate Clark is extensively quoted in this article looking at the situation after a series of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, for which the Taleban denied their involvement but was blamed by the Afghan government: “The Taliban have created an enabling environment for this kind of attack. If they had […]

15 May 2020

Horrific Attack on Maternity Ward Threatens to Upend Afghan Truce

Foreign Policy, 14 May 2020 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted here: Thomas Ruttig, an expert on Afghanistan, believes that the hospital attack “fits the sectarian approach of the Islamic State … which primarily acts against ethnic and religious minorities,” and he likened it to an attack on a Sikh temple in Kabul in March that […]

14 May 2020

Krieg und Terror in Afghanistan: Chance auf Frieden vertan

Tageszeitung, 14 May 2020 Op-ed by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig for the Berlin-based daily, saying that the latest series of terrorist attacks – although the Taleban strongly rejected their involvement – lowers hope for so-called intra-Afghan peace talks (in German).

14 May 2020

Afghan police force carve out tentative post-war role

AFP/The News, 14 May 2020 In this piece on the Afghan National Police’s role, AAN associate Fabrizio Foschini is quoted as saying: “When the new national police were born after 2001, they were basically asked to fight on the front line, not to fight crime, or to really do policing,” said Fabrizio Foschini, a researcher […]

14 May 2020

Will there ever be direct talks between Afghan gov’t and Taliban?

al-Jazeera, 13 May 2020 Watch a panel discussing the latest terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and their repercussions for direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taleban, including AAN’s Kate Clark, Popal Habibi (academic researcher on peacebuilding in Afghanistan) and Sultan Barakat (Professor of conflict resolution at the Doha Institute). Also via Youtube, here.

13 May 2020

Regierung in Kabul beschuldigt Taliban [wegen Anschlägen]

dpa/Deutsche Welle, 13 May 2020 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted here on the terrorist attack against a hospital-cum-birth clinic in Shia-inhabited West Kabul on 12 May, saying that the modus operandi speaks for the Islamic State as perpetrator, possibly in an attempt to further undermine peace talks, despite the fact that no group has claimed […]

13 May 2020

A Request to Delay: Another Afghan government attempt to prevent an ICC war crimes investigation?

Ehsan Qaane •

The Afghan government has submitted a request to the ICC Office of the Prosecutor to defer the ICC’s investigations in Afghanistan, on the grounds that domestic investigations are taking place into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity that occurred on Afghan soil. They argue this means there is no need for the ICC investigation. […]

13 May 2020

Afghans worth better Afghan authority

Pajhwok News Agency, 13 May 2020 A short reference to AAN research in this opinion piece on the Kabul-based news agency’s website: The Taliban are proceeding with the war. As two late reports by the Afghan Analysts Network have archived, following seven days of brought down assaults during the purported decrease in viciousness period, Taliban […]

13 May 2020