New York Times, 23 August 2020 “Instead of mass-casualty attacks, the Taliban are carrying out targeted assaults in the capital and neighboring districts. The country’s security forces seem unable to control them.” North of Kabul, the Taleban seem to cooperate with criminal networks – which is remarkable, as this area is controlled by strongmen of […]
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IOM, 12 August 2020 After four decades at the epicentre of conflict and natural disasters, Afghanistan today is teetering on the brink of a public health catastrophe, facing the collapse of an economy whose most marginalized are heavily reliant on remittances at a time when traditional donor countries are increasingly focused on domestic economic recovery […]
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International Crisis Group, 11 August 2020 An important primer for the upcoming intra-Afghan peace negotiations. From the executive summary: As peace talks in Afghanistan unfold, the Taliban’s positions on a number of critical topics to be discussed with the Afghan government remain ambiguous or undefined. (…) It is vital for the talks’ eventual success that […]
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The Diplomat, 10 August 2020 Swiss freelancer Franz J Marty looks at claims of the Taleban that they do not have foreign fighters with them and counterclaims by Afghan authorities that there are many. He finds that there is “overwhelming evidence of the presence of at least some foreign fighters in Afghanistan that are in contact […]
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BBC, 1 August 2020 After a case that came up in Australia recently (and a steady stream in connection with US and, increasingly, Afghan forces), the BBC and a Sunday Times revealed evidence “of a pattern of illegal killings by UK Special Forces” while the government maintains that, in this case, the four members of […]
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BBC, 27 July 2020 An astounding report about solar power as a transformative technology, in the toughest environment possible, with no subsidies, no considering of climate change – just about small-scale entrepreneurs trying to make a profit: Afghan opium growers in Helmand. “For an upfront payment of $5,000 [farmers] can buy an array of solar […]
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Russia Matters, 22 July 2020 An excellent analysis Artemy M. Kalinovsky, professor of Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet studies at Temple University, of Russia’s interests in Afghanistan in the context of allegations of Russian bounty paying to Taleban to kill US soldiers. By 2016, Russian officials seem to have decided that there was little chance of the U.S. […]
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Washington Post, 13 July 2020 A very lively reportage from Kunar’s Taleban-controlled and empoverished Marawara district (which the LWJ map counts as ‘contested’). The access was facilitated by the Taleban. Projects a picture of Taleban commanders and fighters going for 100 per cent victory and the abolishment of the Ghani government. Which is not surprising, […]
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Ajam Media Collective, 12 July 2020 Author Chihab El Khachab at the University of Oxford has been digging deeper and deeper: On 27 August 1970, The Kabul Times announced that the “First Afghan Film Feature Premiered in Kabul Nandarey”, called Rozgārān. But the history of Afghanistan’s own film production goes further back, as this article shows. There […]
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Human Rights Watch, 30 June 2020 The latest Afghanistan report of the human rights organisations, based on interviews, looks at the practice on the following topics in Taleban-controlled areas: education for girls and women, freedom of expression and social restrictions, detention and punishment for government contacts, and criticism of the Taleban. From the summary: The […]
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The New Humanitarian, 24 June 2020 High coronavirus infection rates among health workers – and lopsidedly low numbers among women – are raising fears that Afghan women are missing out on healthcare while their exposure to the virus goes undetected.
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USIP, 1 June 2020 Our former colleague Borhan Osman’s latest report.
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