Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Economy, Development, Environment

This priority area covers Afghanistan’s political economy, economic development and poverty, with a focus on sectors with important political and/or rule of law implications, such as mining, banking and transport and, in the past, the private security sector.

Lack of Capacity and Capital: Is Afghanistan Under-Selling the Ainak Copper?

Gran Hewad •

Containing 240 million metric tons of ore at 2.3 per cent copper content, the Ainak mine is considered one of the largest deposits of this metal in the world. It is located in Muhammad Agha district of Logar province, about 30 kilometres south-east of the Afghan capital, and was contracted to a Chinese consortium in […]

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Guest Blog: Big Bucks for Big Players – Logistic fortunes of the Afghan war

Mohammad Jawad •

The logistics business is one of the most lucrative yet murkiest aspects of international security operations in Afghanistan. Involving backroom dealings and hundreds of millions of dollars, the stakes are high, as is the alleged involvement of the Afghan political elite. So who’s running the show, what are the scams, and what will happen as […]

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Jumble of Figures: How much money came out of Tokyo?

Thomas Ruttig •

The Tokyo conference on Afghanistan is over. The participating donors came up with pledges of US$16 billion in development aid (1) – but pledges not always translate into money transfers (and aid effectiveness is another issue). My AAN colleague, Kate Clark, has already rightly pointed out in her 8 July blog that money alone cannot […]

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Flash from the Past: the 2002 Tokyo conference – the world’s most difficult story

Kate Clark •

Today’s conference on aid in Tokyo (8 July 2012) has come ten years after international donors first pledged money to post-Taleban Afghanistan. In January 2002, they promised $3 billion (over varying numbers of years, depending on the donor) which was then an enormous sum, although it turned out to be a small drop compared to […]

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Beyond the Tokyo Centre-Court: Civil Society Concerns

Gran Hewad •

Today’s Tokyo Conference is the third such event in a month, following the second ‘Afghanistan: Heart of Asia’ conference in Kabul on 14 June and the Delhi Investment Summit on Afghanistan on 28 June. There have also been three other events in Tokyo, involving the UN, aid agencies and civil society organisations in the run-up […]

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Renewal of the Vows: The Tokyo conference between ritual and necessity

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Tomorrow in Tokyo an international conference on Afghanistan is set to start, a little over a decade after the first donor conference on Afghanistan of the post-Taleban era took place in Japan’s capital. Between then and now many of such conference have been held, in many different places and in increasing frequency; on average once […]

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Potholes on ISAF’s Northern Exit: a road trip through the Salang

Martin Gerner •

The news that Pakistan has agreed to re-open supply routes to Afghanistan (1) after a seven month diplomatic standoff between Washington and Islamabad will not only ease the costs for the US and other NATO member states for their withdrawal plans. It also procures northern Afghanistan – namely its road system and population – some […]

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The Battle for Schools in Ghazni – or, Schools as a Battlefield

Fabrizio Foschini •

The anti-Taleban uprising by the people of Andar in the spring surprised many observers and, quite possibly, the insurgents themselves. This made it possible to portray it as a spontaneous struggle of local villagers for the right to education during its first weeks. Now, a month later, AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini feels that, rather than risk […]

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Land Grabs in Afghanistan (1): Nangrahar, the disputed o-rangeland

Fabrizio Foschini •

In the last ten years, land disputes have become a permanent feature of Afghanistan’s landscape. Always influenced by the misuse of state power, often bursting into open conflicts, sometimes getting into the limelight usually reserved for political violence, they are very seldom addressed properly by the government. Also highlighted by recent accusations by the High […]

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Transition and Peace Talks: Optimism and Confidence in Herat?

Hamisha Bahar •

Transition of security and the possibility of a process of peace talks with the Taleban are a concern to most Afghans. According to reports, house prices are falling, investors are getting more careful and more and more people are contemplating to leave the country because of concerns that the situation may get worse. However, the […]

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Afghanistan’s Fluctuating Poppy Production: More Than a Poverty Problem

Doris Buddenberg •

Afghanistan’s area of poppy cultivation has increased by 7 per cent compared to the last year and more provinces cultivate poppy than then. This is the gist of annual opium survey for the country for 2012. There are no predictions about how many (thousands of) tons this will be. And the publishers – the UN […]

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Guest blog: Working in Aid: donor rule, funding flows, and awkward ‘no’s

Sarah Han •

Criticism of top-down development approaches find common cause in Afghanistan, where projects are often envisioned and implemented without due attention paid to realities on the ground. Here, AAN guest blogger SARAH HAN shares some of her personal experience of the oft-frustrating world of donor-NGO relations. Her paper ‘Legal Aid in Afghanistan: Context and Challenges,’ released […]

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