Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Thomas Ruttig

Afghanistan Widows: The Silent Struggle of Women-Headed Households

Wilson Center blog, 19 February 2025 This article written by Canadian Red Cross authors compiles information on the situation of Afghan widows under the Taleban’s second regime, drawing from various sources, including reporting by the Afghanistan Analysts Network.

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US-China Standoff on Who Runs the Afghanistan File at UN Signals Greater Tensions Ahead 

Just Security, 14 February 2025 A diplomatic row is underway between the US and Chinaiover who should act as Security Council “penholder” for resolutions on Afghanistan and “has escalated in recent weeks since the Trump administration took over.” In 2024, Japan took on the role (having held it jointly with the United Arab Emirates in […]

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Afghanistan: IS-Dschihadisten fordern Taliban heraus

Deutsche Welle, 17 February 2025 Before the backdrop of the two latest IS-claimed suicide attacks in Kunduz and Kabul, this article on the website of Germany’s international broadcaster looks at the activity of ISKP and it potential as a threat to the Taleban regime. Among others, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted here (original in German): […]

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The Little-Known Story of Afghanistan’s Last Jew [a woman]

NewLines Magazine, 8 March 2024 The heartbreaking story of Tova Moradi – from Moradkhana in Kabul –, “born to a modest and well-respected Jewish family”, her father “an observant Jew who sold secondhand clothes”, married off to (or even “abducted”) by an Afghan Muslim family but secretly holding on to her faith and even passing […]

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Global isolation of Taliban gradually disappearing with more countries willing to establish ties with Afghanistan

India Tomorrow, 16 February 2025 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted here, indirectly, and not clear from where exactly (also correctly, if put briefly, apart from: the rapprochement has already happened to a large extent): For the Taliban, rapprochement with their neighbours would be a major victory, according to Thomas Ruttig, co-founder of the independent think […]

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Herrschaft der Taliban: Afghanistan ohne Hoffnung

ARD-Tagesschau, 15 August 2025 In this article that looks at the general situation in Afghanistan, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted extensively: The effects of this decision [by Trump to dismantle USAID and stop many aid programmes worldwide] are dramatic, says Afghanistan expert Thomas Ruttig. The co-founder of the Afghanistan Analysts Network (…) confirms that local […]

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Afghanistan: What the US aid freeze means for the country

ACAPS, 7 February 2025 This ACAPS Briefing note provides an excellent summary of what the Trump administration has decided on dismantling USAID and halting development aid – and what that means for Afghanistan: Here the organisation’s summary for the second part: The US is a major humanitarian aid donor; in 2024, according to OCHA’s financial […]

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Taliban suspends the country’s only women’s radio station

Monocle Radio, 5 February 2025 AAN senior analyst Kate Clark reviewed the news for the digital radio station, Monocle Radio, on 5 February 2025: Trump eyes Gaza and Putin relaunches Soviet-era song contest We unpack the latest following Donald Trump’s meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu and ask how seriously we can take the former’s bold claims […]

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Taliban’s ban on door-to-door polio vaccinations linked to surge in cases: AAN

Amu TV, 2 February 2025 The exile Afghan news platform briefly reports AAN’s latest publication on the current state of polio vaccination in Afghanistan, also highlighting that parents stated in interviews that the Emirate’s “new vaccination approach—limited to public gathering places—has made it harder to ensure all children receive the vaccine.”

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Trump Freezes Foreign Aid Fraud

Counterpunch, 31 January 2025 The magazine quotes AAN’s Martine van Bijlert with criticism on US spending practice in Afghanistan: Martine van Bijlert of the nonprofit Afghanistan Analysts Network commented: “As long as you spend money and you can provide a paper trail, that’s a job well  done.  It’s a perverse system, and there seems to […]

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Bericht zu Afghanistan-Einsatz: Ambivalente Empfehlungen für Hochrisikoeinsätze [Report on Afghanistan mission: Ambivalent recommendations for high-risk missions]

Tageszeitung, 28 January 2025 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig writes (in German) about the report by the German Bundestag’s Enquiry Commission on the country’s contribution to the US-led Afghanistan mission between 2001 and 2021, formulating recommendation for future deployments abroad it assumes it ‘will’ continue to make its contribution to, as the report states, although probably not […]

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Afghans stranded in Mexico under Trump immigration crackdown face bleak choices

Reuters, 24 January 2025 The story of five Afghans who, after the Trump administration’s entry ban for refugees, had their US asylum appointments canceled and are stuck in a shelter in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, the only such refuge in this country specifically for Muslim migrants. Reuters reports: Muslim migrants face a series […]

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