16 September 2019 In the context of Barnett Rubin’s call not to abandon Afghanistan in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, also read this background on pressure on aid for Afghanistan: … international discussions continue on the economic aid that will be vital to stabilizing Afghanistan under any peace deal. Yet the Afghan government has […]
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26 March 2020 This article is important as it lays out the already dire socio-economic situation of Afghanistan and possible consequences of a complete US aid cut, but also for its call to go multilateral, involve the UN and ease Iran sanctions to advance peace in Afghanistan.
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19 March 2020 Residents have accused the police chief for Wazikhwa district of southeastern Paktika province being involved in killing and beating innocent citizens, drug smuggling and extorting money from Hashish farmers. Arrest warrants have not been carried out. 1st Cor. Barat, 26, has before served as police commander for Janikhel district. He was accused of […]
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13 March 2020 An analysis by Prof. Barnett R Rubin, looking at factors such as the release of prisoners, ceasefire and intra-Afghan negotiations. He concludes: The pandemic makes it even more important to end the war. (…) But measures to control the spread of the pandemic could make it even more difficult to negotiate peace. […]
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8 March 2020 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has confirmed that the US-Taleban agreement concluded in Doha in late February has two secret annexes. he called them “military implementation documents.” They are only accessible to members of the US Congress who cannot divulge their content. The Times, nonetheless, compiles what is known and what can […]
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Pajhwok Afghan News, 29 February 2020 The Kabul-based news agency that also regularly publishes civilian casualty data, did its own survey.
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The Diplomat, 29 February 2020 An interesting reply by an Afghan(?) Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toronto to another of many opinion pieces arguing that Afghanistan’s (indeed) centralised political system “hampers the development of an inclusive and legitimate government that is representative of local interests” – thereby equating regional warlords’ with ‘local’ interests. The […]
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The Guardian, 19 February 2020 An excellent reportage from Pakistan’s coal mines where Afghan miners make up around 50% of the workforce, toiling in “one of the world’s harshest work environments”: The story of the coal miners of Balochistan is one of debt bondage and human rights abuses [including sexual abuse of children], an absence […]
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al-Jazeera, 7 February 2020 While the last Jew living in Kabul and his synagogue are well known, it is lesser known that Herat – and other cities of northern Afghanistan – had had Jewish communities for centuries. It is believed that the population of Jews in western Afghanistan was close to 40,000 as of 1836 […]
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National Geographic, 3 February 2020 An important thematic reminder in the midst of the current hot discussion about ‘elections and peace’, on one of the gravest problems Afghanistan is facing: “Afghanistan is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change, and one of the least equipped to handle what’s to come. […]
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New York Times, 28 January 2020 This article doesn’t mention Afghans or Afghanistan, but it describes another facet of the ongoing refugee crisis at the gates of Europe: “The number of asylum seekers in Cyprus was five times higher in 2019 than it was four years ago, unlike in the rest of the [EU], where […]
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Kabul Now, 28 January 2020 A hard-wrenching story of violence against children and family traumatisation. – Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission says violence against children is on the rise, and the International Bureau of Children’s Rights points out that the scale of violence against children is far beyond domestic violence: deprivation from education, beatings, rape, child labor […]
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