Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

International Engagement

This thematic area covers reporting on various strands of the international intervention – military, diplomatic and, development and humanitarian aid. It includes analysis of high-level strategies, significant international conferences, major trends, as well as reporting on specific programmes.

Bagram and Insider Attacks: ‘Shoulder to Shoulder’ no longer?

Kate Clark •

It has been a rough week for US-led international forces, with threats, tensions and setbacks multiplying. The Taleban’s spectacular attack on Camp Bastion on 15 September, which left two soldiers – including a lieutenant colonel – dead, six fighter planes destroyed and two others damaged and ISAF’s narrative of a weakening insurgency looking fragile, was […]

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The Takhar attack and Targeted Killings: the Legal Challenge

Kate Clark •

An Afghan bank worker from rural Takhar, Habib Rahman, is taking the British government to court over Britain’s participation in drawing up and executing the US military’s ‘kill list’ which singles out alleged insurgents for targeted killing. Rahman lost his father-in-law, Zabet Amanullah, and several other close relatives in September 2010 when an air strike […]

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Paint It Pink: The US redefining ANA success

Gary Owen •

Twice a year, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) reports to the Congress and Senate committees on defense, appropriations, and foreign relations on the ‘progress’ of the conflict in Afghanistan. AAN guest blogger, Gary Owen, a former soldier who now is working as a civilian development worker(*) has been scrutinizing the reports, teasing out, […]

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The Tokyo Conference and the Decade of Déjà Vu

Martine van Bijlert •

Another conference, another set of promises, proposals and agreements. Tomorrow, representatives over 70 countries, international organisations and the Afghan government will meet in Tokyo to discuss aid post-2014. Anyone feeling confused about yet another conference with its claims of impact and importance will find AAN’s new e-book (Snapshots of an Intervention: The Unlearned Lessons of […]

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Guest Blog: Heart of Asia Hardly Beating at the Second ‘Heart of Asia Meeting’

Niamatullah Ibrahimi •

After a promising start in Bonn 2001 but almost a decade with this idea falling dormant again, a regional approach has been identified as an essential element for a peaceful and sustainable solution for Afghanistan’s problems. Turkey had given this idea a new start in November last year with a summit meeting in Istanbul. Now, […]

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Obama’s visit in ‘pre-dawn darkness’

Kate Clark •

President Obama has visited Afghanistan under cover of darkness, signed a ten year strategic partnership agreement, spoken to the American – although not the Afghan – people from Bagram, claimed near victory over al-Qaida and the Taleban, said a new day was dawning for Afghanistan and left. The Taleban, meanwhile, tried to pretend the visit […]

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Handing over Night Raids

Kate Clark •

Afghanistan and the United States have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on ‘Special Operations’, ensuring that night raids will continue – with Afghans ordering and conducting them and US forces acting only in support. The agreement is a victory for President Karzai who has long insisted – up till now in vain – that […]

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Withdrawal in 2014? Myths and realities

Thomas Ruttig •

A series of contradictory statements about a possible earlier start to the (mainly US) foreign troop drawdown and a quicker handover of security responsibility to Afghan forces, as well as debate over the likely form of NATO’s post-ISAF mission in Afghanistan has caused confusion in the media(1) and wider public sphere recently. Thomas Ruttig, Senior […]

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One Year of Transition: A Look Back (2)

Fabrizio Foschini •

Second part of the retrospective look at the last three months’ transitions which took in many Afghan provinces. AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini briefly comments on each of these and on some characteristics of the overall process. The second phase of transition continued on 11 January 2012 with a ceremony in the Wardak provincial capital of Maidan […]

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One Year of Transition: A Look Back (1)

Fabrizio Foschini •

The second phase of transition, which was announced on 27 November 2011, is drawing to a close after a long winter, and after a turbulent few weeks that have refocused attention on the fall-out over the ongoing conflict. Many more areas of Afghanistan have witnessed an official transfer of security, while information about the third […]

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Guest Blog: The Quran burnings and the German retreat from Taloqan

Marcel Habler •

German authorities announced on Friday, the third day of the Quran burning protests, that they have closed their ISAF base in Taloqan several weeks earlier than planned in response to the protests. Originally, the base had been slated for closure in March. This decision shows the limitations of the assumed international control of particular areas […]

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War Without Accountability: The CIA, Special Forces and plans for Afghanistan’s future

Kate Clark •

That US Special Forces are likely to remain in Afghanistan after 2014 and for the long haul, has been discussed for some time. According to The Washington Post, which went to a talk by the former head of US Special Operations Forces (SOF) in Afghanistan, Admiral Bill McRaven, at the National Defence Industrial Association in […]

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