The Guardian, 3 May 2022 A pretty unexpected reportage from Kandahar where the human rights NGO Geneva Call holds international humanitarian law courses for young Taleban. One says he has learned there to respect the dignity of prisoners which, he said, he was not aware that this should be done – after 8 years in […]
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Costs of War Project, 1 September 2021 In case you missed it, too: the figures from Afghanistan & Pakistan (Oct. 2001 – Aug. 2021); Iraq (March 2003 – Aug. 2021); Syria (Sept. 2014 – May 2021); Yemen (Oct. 2002-Aug. 2021) and Other Post-9/11 War Zones by the Brown University/Watson Institute’s Costs of War Project.
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Hasht-e Sobh, 17 Hamal 1401 (6 April 2022) Although based on World Bank, UN data and western media reporting, this is an interesting summary as it comes from an Afghan angle.
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Australian Institute of International Affairs, 5 April 2022 Prof. Bill Maley’s commentary, culminating in the following statement: … the invasion of Ukraine arguably reflected […] the failure of general deterrence — that is, the creation through word and deed of apprehension in the mind of an aggressive autocrat that a democratic superpower such as the United States […]
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Chatham House, 16 March 2022 Hameed Hakimi and Oli Brown of this British think tank, in their ‘experts comment’, make a point that is not new, but can’t be reiterated often enough, as this has been thoroughly ignored during 20 years of Western-driven ‘reconstruction’.
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PRIO/CMI, 22 February 2022 Listen to a 90-minutes discussion on Afghanistan, with the following participants and including pre-recorded interviews with two Taleban officials by Terje Watterdal, Norwegian Afghanistan Committee: Timor Sharan, Afghanistan Policy Lab Kate Clark, Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) Arne Strand, Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) moderated by Kristian Berg Harpviken, PRIO
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Swiss Institute for Global Affairs, 16 February 2022 An interesting look by Franz Marty at the patchy Taleban policy on drugs – from two hotspots, Bahramchah in Helmand and Memla in Nangrahar.
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Brown Journal of World Affairs, February 2022 An interview with Arne Strand and Astri Suhrke, researchers working with CMI in Bergen (Norway), two long-term experts on Afghanistan, talking about why the Afghan (Islamic) Republic collapses so quickly, and what can be don about the Taleban and aid.
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USIP, 2 February 2022 Although economic and humanitarian conditions in Afghanistan continue to deteriorate, the Taliban have taken some positive steps toward financial stability by publishing a fiscally responsible three-month budget and raising considerable amounts of domestic revenue — especially through customs duties, which have risen with a crackdown on corruption. However, this budget raises several questions: […]
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Inside Arabia, 7 January 2021 A rare article on the foreign policy of one of the emerging Arab players – here Qatar – on Afghanistan.
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The Atlantic, 31 January 2022 A long but worthy read by award-winning George Packer, for example on the slow, too late, bureaucratically garbled US evacuation of Afghan allies: … the president’s political advisers worried that the right would hammer Biden for resettling thousands of Muslims while historic numbers of Central American refugees were already overrunning […]
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The Times (not online), 28 January 2022 In Kyiv’s streets, where Ukrainians talk boldly and brashly of war, or just ignore its approach, stranded Afghans who only a few months ago escaped conflict in their own country are watching with jaded eyes, readying themselves for what may come. “I thought Kabul would resist for months […]
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