The Wall Street Journal, 13 November 2018 The Trump administration is discussing whether to press the Afghan government to suspend coming presidential elections, (…) as the U.S. seeks to engage the Taliban in talks to end the 17-year war. The possibility of such a step, one of several options being considered by U.S. officials, is […]
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Newsweek, 26 October 2018 A helpful analysis of public and not so public bleak US assessments of the situation in Afghanistan, although a bit US-centric, as usual (“After U.S. Special Forces and CIA teams ran the Taliban out of Kabul 17 years ago…”).
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World Bank, 17 October 2018 A blog by WB Afghanistan country director with some bleak truths about the socio-economic breakdown after ‘transition’: “Since 2014, growth has stagnated, falling below rates of population growth, and the security situation continues to deteriorate. (…) Welfare deteriorated between 2007 and 2011 as growth was not pro-poor. During the post-transition […]
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Deutsche Welle, 23 October 2018 Afghanistan’s water problems, another seriously underreported environmental issue, overshadowed by election reporting.
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Deutsche Welle, 11 October 2018 Over 4 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran are not allowed to cast their votes in the upcoming Afghan parliamentary election. The refugees fear the next legislative body won’t protect their interests.
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Reporterly, 11 October 2018 Pre-election report from an underreported province by a new Afghan English-language news website.
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Stars and Stripes, 17 September 2018 The bid is out for “hardened permanent structures” for RS headquarters in Kabul, including a building with “more than 800 workspaces. (…) The plans follow completion earlier this summer of a permanent passenger terminal and control tower at the compound’s helicopter landing zone (…)”
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Bloomberg, 13 September 2018 Altaf Najafizada’s insight into how some Afghans gain from the US sanctions against Iran (most Afghans lose, many of them returning from Iran because the lack of work): For traders in Afghanistan’s main currency exchange, U.S. sanctions against Tehran have created the ultimate arbitrage play — one that involves frequent trips […]
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Foreign Policy, 12 September 2018 “The militants’ new strategy is to out-govern the U.S.-backed administration in Kabul—and it’s working”, Ashley Jackson who is associated to the Overseas Development Institute in London reports from Charkh district in Logar which is t”currently governed by the Taliban.” Locals say there is remarkably little crime. Disputes among neighbors or families are […]
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Voice of America, 24 August 2018 Christopher Kolenda, who helped setting up the latest US-Taleban talks in Qatar, makes a number of important points, some sobering, about the talks’ context. He said, the “conversation between the U.S. government and the Taliban (…) happened in full coordination with the Afghan government” and are “meant as an […]
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Uppsala Conflict Data Program, 15 August 2018 Since 1946 Afghanistan has experienced the interstate, intrastate, non-state, and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence, with over 200,000 dead. See more figures via the link.
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BBC, 15 August 2018 “The sun started to go down behind the mountains to the west of the city. Residents were still trapped inside their houses as fighting raged in the streets outside. Many of them were unaware of exactly what was happening elsewhere. …”
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