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.

Releasing the Guantanamo Five? 1: Biographies of the Prisoners (amended)

Kate Clark •

Releasing Taleban from Guantanamo Bay is on the agenda – in the context of finding a negotiated end to the conflict. Four senior and one junior Taleban official may be freed, or exchanged for the captured US soldier, Bowe Bergdahl. The idea has caused consternation among some in the US Congress, as well as consternation […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Women’s Day in Afghanistan: Where the ‘Personal is still Political’

Sari Kouvo •

International Women’s Day is a good opportunity to reflect on the legal advances made by Afghan women over the past decade and what challenges remain to turn laws on paper into reality. It is particularly needed after the President’s endorsement of the recent Ulama Council statement that, among a number of other points, addresses Afghan […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Parliament Completes the Cabinet – after two years

Fabrizio Foschini •

Taking most observers by surprise, the Wolesi Jirga has passed a very long-waited vote of confidence and approved all nine ministers put forward by the president today. It has been more than two years since the current government was formed, but all portfolios are now duly occupied by ministers approved by the Parliament, and not […]

Political Landscape Read more

Afghanistan’s ‘Cumulative’ Protests and the West’s Dilemma (amended)

Thomas Ruttig •

Afghanistan has seen its largest protests since the fall of the Taleban. For six days in a row, demonstrations protested the burning of copies of the Qur’an at Bagram airbase in about half of the Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. Roads were blocked, ISAF bases stormed and an UN office targeted and there were calls for jihad […]

War and Peace Read more

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 […]

International Engagement Read more

Guest Blog: Karzai and the ‘Imran Khan Factor’ in Pakistan

Malaiz Chopan-Daud •

There is little understanding of Pakistan and its internal dynamics in Afghanistan. A recent example is the visit of President Hamed Karzai to Pakistan last week, during which he met with Pakistani leaders – not only those from the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) but also a number of other prominent politicians: the leaders of […]

Regional Relations Read more

The Quran burnings and the different faces of restraint

Martine van Bijlert •

The fourth day of protests has ended with a mixed picture: on one hand relief over what seemed to have been a sense of restraint in many areas, on the other hand sadness and resignation over the reports of violence and deaths coming from a handful of places. All in all, it was not as […]

Political Landscape Read more

The Quran burnings and the different faces of anger

Martine van Bijlert •

Yesterday’s thoughtless and avoidable burning of several Qurans at Bagram air base has sparked a second day of protests across Afghanistan. The repercussions are expected to reverberate for several more days, at least. The demonstrations are a combination of religious outrage, pent-up frustration and groups wanting to stir trouble. It is difficult to predict how […]

Political Landscape Read more

Quran Burning on Bagram Base

Thomas Ruttig •

This blog can be very short, thinks Thomas Ruttig, a Senior Analyst at AAN, and doesn’t require any Afghanistan expertise: Books and other reading material, Islamic or otherwise, do not belong in the garbage. If you stick to this basic rule, Quran burnings and retaliatory riots can be avoided. For an alternative to dispose of printed material, […]

War and Peace Read more

Are the Taleban talking to Karzai (and does it matter)?

Martine van Bijlert •

When little is clear, all clues seem relevant. And so it can happen that a handful of fairly vague sentences by the President are taken as proof of a significant new step towards negotiations in Afghanistan. A closer look at these claims of emerging “three-way talks” shows that this reading is rather premature, as is […]

War and Peace Read more

Guest Blog: No Frontpage News? Afghanistan’s Ongoing IDP Crisis

Susanne Schmeidl • Dan Tyler •

A powerful article published in the New York Times on 3 February 2011 has raised the critical question about what, if anything, humanitarian agencies are doing to address the growing IDP crisis in Afghanistan and how many children (and adults) have to die until the international community is willing to wake up and admit that […]

Migration Read more

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 […]

International Engagement Read more

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