Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 19 January 2016 Another case study on a recurrent but worrying theme: On paper, nearly 30,000 policemen and pro-government militiamen are tasked with protecting the province of Faryab from Taliban fighters, whose robust summer offensive threatened to claim the strategic area on Turkmenistan’s border. In reality, few of the policemen and […]
Recommended Reads
Stars and Stripes, 16 January 2016 A useful look back by Heath Druzin.
Recommended Reads
New York Times, 17 December 2015 Not only the SIGAR uncovers serial waste of US funds in Afghanistan, also new stories of abuse of Afghan civilians by the US military come to light. Here a long and not very pleasant read from the NYT, about a case in Uruzgan, from May 2012, this time with a […]
Recommended Reads
Spiegel and France24, 2 December 2015 In the Spiegel interview, the President answers the question “How was it possible for 700 or 800 Taliban to take by surprise a well-equipped security force of about 7,000 troops in [Kunduz]?” with his own question; “How can a few individuals bring the French government to a standstill?” And he […]
Recommended Reads
ToloNews, 22 November 2015 The Afghan currency has lost 11 percent of its value against the US dollars and the Pakistani rupee in the past four months – falling to the lowest rate since 2001 –, while rates of food items and other commodities increased by 18 percent and fuel by 40 percent.
Recommended Reads
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 22 November 2015 A portrait of Haji Ghalib Mujahid, the district governor of Achin in Nangrahar the area in Afghanistan that has the most IS problems.
Recommended Reads
AREU, November 2015 In AREU’s Working Paper 38, authors Giulia Minoia and Adam Pain look into the ups and downs of Kandahar city’s economy since 2001-. The paper is based on four interesting case studies, taking up the pre-war tradition of ‘bazaar structure studies’: focused on three sub-sectors of the informal street vendor economy: the selling of […]
Recommended Reads
al-Jazeera, 1 November 2015 Two eminences – Barnett Rubin and Ahmad Rashid – on Daesh/ISIS/ISIL in Afghanistan. (Rubin calls it his “best guess” in his roundmail.) The link above leads to Barney’s article; Ahmed Rashid’s is here.
Recommended Reads
Washington Post, 29 October 2015 Portrait of militia leader Nabi Gechi, who “is not just the general [but also] the judge, the police chief and the tax collector” in Kunduz’ Qala-ye Zal district “where U.S. troops left long ago and there are no soldiers or police” and where Gechi is “accepting protection money from the […]
Recommended Reads
Washington Post, 22 October 2015 Excellent reportage from Kunduz: university looted, shops destroyed in fighting, civilians killed in the crossfire and a harrowing story how Taleban killed a former bodyguard of Mir Alam – but “in many other areas, the insurgents left residents alone” and “some allegations of abuses committed by the Taliban were false” […]
Recommended Reads
The Guardian, 15 October 2015 On the Afghan-Iran border, a village is caught up in a deadly, regional struggle for the most precious resource: “Residents of Kohsan district in Afghanistan’s Herat province say that when they try to collect precious potable water on the barren eastern bank, the Iranian guards open fire. While the provincial […]
Recommended Reads
The Guardian, 15 October 2015 MSF says ‘forced entry’ by military vehicle – later said to be carrying investigators into the US airstrike that killed 22 patients and staff – caused stress and fear.
Recommended Reads
