Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Reports

Reports – previously known as dispatches – are the flagship of the AAN website and our main type of publication. AAN reports are based on extensive desk and field research and provide timely and in-depth information and analysis.

Arts in a War Zone: Afghanistan at the Documenta

Martin Gerner •

The Documenta in the German city of Kassel is said to be the world biggest exhibition on contemporary art. Taking place every five years, it is curated each time by a single foreign curator and his team of international agents and aides. This year, for its 13th edition, for the first time Afghanistan is a […]

Context and Culture Read more

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 […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

Upcoming Regional Co-operation Conference on Afghanistan: A Primer

S Reza Kazemi •

Regional co-operation on Afghanistan has so far remained by and large confined to meeting rooms and conference halls. One of these gatherings is set to take place in Kabul on 14 June 2012. The ‘Heart of Asia Ministerial Conference in Kabul’ is focused on ‘The Istanbul Process: A New Agenda for Regional Co-operation.’ The Afghan […]

Regional Relations Read more

Plants of Afghanistan 2: the Koh-e Baba Foraging Top Ten (amended)

Kate Clark •

Wild rhubarb (chukri or rawash) is surely one of the delights of the Afghan spring. Like many forage plants, rhubarb is both a delicacy in the cities, and an important food for those living in rural areas. As the winter snow melts, the rhubarb rhizome produces stems which can be plucked and eaten raw while […]

Context and Culture Read more

Plants of Afghanistan 1: Centre of Global Biodiversity

Kate Clark •

Among the hundreds of containers bound for Afghanistan which were impounded for over a year at Karachi docks because of a trade dispute were copies of a ground-breaking book on Afghanistan’s plants. S W Breckle and M D Rafiqpoor’s Field Guide Afghanistan: Flora and Vegetation, (1) is unique, the result of decades of work by […]

Context and Culture Read more

Good Muslims, Bad Muslims? Solidarity Party Threatened by Ban (amended)

Thomas Ruttig •

A small but vocal leftist political party has challenged the consensus about the ‘good jehad’, pointing to human rights violations of some of its leaders, and earned the ire of them. After initial calls for an immediate ban, the authorities have suspended the party’s activities, pending an investigation. How they will handle this case will […]

Political Landscape Read more

Another Hezb-e Islami U-Turn – with more to follow? (amended)

Gran Hewad •

When the second largest insurgent group, Hezb-e Islami (1), suspended talks with the Afghan government, three weeks ago, it cited dissatisfaction with the signing of the US-Afghan Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) on 1 May 2012. Kabul has now gone public, accusing Hezb-e Islami of telling it a different story immediately after the talks, which were […]

Political Landscape Read more

New Battles and Old Wants in Nuristan

Fabrizio Foschini •

The killing of the deputy shadow governor of the Taleban for Nuristan, apparently in a drone strike on his native village of Amshuz, Waygal district, represents just the last chapter in what has already been a rather intense fighting season in the province for two months. A perennial candidate for insurgent takeover, Nuristan witnessed some […]

War and Peace Read more

Happy Christmas (2014), Will War Be Over?

Thomas Ruttig •

The spin from Chicago is working. Many media reported that the war in Afghanistan will be over and Western troops gone by 2014. Apparently, they did not get President Obama’s full message that was much more subtle: that the war ‘as we know it’ will be over. It will change its character and the new […]

War and Peace Read more

The Other Guantanamo 2: the Afghan State begins Internment

Kate Clark •

Sources involved in the handover of Bagram detention facility from the United States to Afghanistan have told AAN that the Afghan state was due to start ruling on the internment of its own citizens there on 22 May 2012. The use of the US system of detention without trial by the Afghan government is probably […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

The Mulla Dadullah Front: A search for clues

Thomas Ruttig •

A Mulla Dadullah Front has claimed responsibility for assassinating the High Peace Council member, Mawlawi Arsala Rahmani, on 13 May. Some in the media, as well as the Afghan authorities have picked up on the claim – and some alleged members of the Front have been arrested. Although this is not actually the first sighting […]

War and Peace Read more

No Country for Good Policemen?

Fabrizio Foschini •

At the NATO summit in Chicago, everybody’s attention seems to be focused on the budget for the defence of Afghanistan and how much donors will spend after 2014, in other words on the quantity of security forces that the country will be able to field. But what about their quality? A new, excellent report on […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

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