The Conversation, 6 June 2017 A must-read: First-hand experience from onboard a number of flights with forced and not-so-voluntary Afghan ‘returnees’ from Turkey by Liza Schuster. Here some quotes from the text: Thirty young men were deported to Kabul on June 6, on a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul. (…) As I spoke to the […]
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The Guardian, 20 May 2017 “Afghanistan’s vice-president [Abdulrashid Dostum] has left the country after a six-month standoff following allegations that he illegally detained a political rival and had him raped with an assault rifle”, reports the British daily. President Ashraf Ghani “framed the case as his make-or-break moment to show that not even powerful warlords were […]
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Ride Reports, March 2017 For something completely different: cycling in Lal-o-Sar Jangal, Ghor, with nice photos.
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Indian Express, 9 May 2017 Some interesting background on the Pakistani links of the recently killed ISKP chief from this Indian daily.
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Rediff News, 8 May 2017 A former Indian ambassador recounts Hekmatyar ‘politics’ while working on special assignment as Charge d’Affaires to manage the embassy in Kabul in 1990 – and wondering whom the Hezb leader was “trying to impress” by bringing “his wife and daughter for the ceremony in the presidential palace on Thursday, May […]
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Strand Journal, 8 May 2017 The German news website reports Hekmatyar’s return to Kabul and quotes from Borhan Osman’s dispatch on the topic for AAN: Hekmatjar hielt die Rede im großen Gasi-Stadion, das 25.000 Menschen fasst und voll besetzt war. Die Experten des Afghanistan Analysts Network beschreiben ihn in einer aktuellen Analyse als “charismatisch, absolutistisch […]
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GEO TV, 20 April 2017 Article based on Reuters’ reporting of the aftermath of the US’ Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb quotes AAN’s Kate Clark: Residents in Achin district say that they knew of no civilians still living voluntarily in the areas near the Islamic State stronghold, but it is still not clear if other […]
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AFP, 12 March 2017 This AFP story about the attack on Kabul’s military Sardar Daud Khan hospital, claimed by Daesh, picks up reports about inside support for the assailants – and on growing doubt that it was really the IS, namely on “indications that the (Taliban-allied) Haqqani network was behind it.”
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Independent Journal Review, 11 March 2017 An American journalist was invited to a dinner with the Afghan ambassador in the US and widows of US soldiers killed in Afghanistan – and had the chance to listen to a eulogy of the Trump administration’s stand on Afghanistan and a dress-down of the “fatigued”, “hesitant” and too […]
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AFP/The National, 10 March 2017 Underreported, underrated – a phenomenon that undermines the security of Kabulis probably as much as terrorism. One shortcoming: the too short sentence about the political connections and protection of the abduction syndicates: The government’s inability to curb kidnappings has led many like Mr Ghulam to suspect that some criminals are […]
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The Globe and Mail, 17 February 2017 The Canadian daily tells the story of a young Afghan from Takhar who dreams about Canada – and describes his long winding odyssey through Europe: Turkey-Greece-Croatia-Switzerland-Croatia-France…, all documented by his photos and facebook posts
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RFE/RL, 16 February 2016 Frud Bezhan’s story about the appaling conditions under which forces returnees from Pakistan live at the outskirts of Kabul
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