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.

The Destruction of the Bamian Buddhas (2)

Thomas Ruttig •

28 February 2000: The Taleban want to destroy all non-Islamic images of human beings in Afghanistan as ‘idols’. With this decision, they threaten the rich cultural heritage of their country. International experts react with horror. A contemporary article by Thomas Ruttig. The Quran bans all displays of human images because Allah – as the God […]

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The Destruction of the Bamian Buddhas (1)

Thomas Ruttig •

Together with the systematic exclusion of women from almost all spheres of social life, public executions in stadiums and massacres of minority groups that had resisted their takeover of certain parts of the country, it was the iconoclastic destruction of the two ancient Buddhist statues in early March 2001 which shaped the world’s image of […]

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Watching the government and waiting for the fighting season

Martine van Bijlert •

While the Washington Whispers asks where the news on Afghanistan has gone (it’s not there because it is all good* in case you were wondering), and Parliament suddenly elects a speaker after weeks of intrigue, and the Special Court continues to reopen ballot boxes to see what they might find, and diplomats shake their heads […]

Political Landscape Read more

The Wolesi Jirga has a Speaker (amended)

Gran Hewad •

After a seemingly unending process, almost unexpectedly, the Wolesi jirga has a speaker, with today’s election of Haji Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi, an Uzbek as desired. AAN’s Gran Hewad and coleagues try to shed light on his background and the way he has been (s)elected. The Wolesi Jirga has finally found its speaker, one month and […]

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Khalil Lula and His Friends or: Bad Dari spoken

Thomas Ruttig •

It has been a while that I have been collecting examples of how Afghan names and toponyms are often not only misspelled but almost violated in the media. For me, this reflects an utter superficiality because many journalists do not seem to care much about whom or what they speak about (and have no clue […]

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Willing, able and Uzbek: the Wolesi Jirga looks for a minority speaker

Fabrizio Foschini •

Yesterday’s parliament session did not just add to an already long list of failures to solve the impasse over the speaker’s election, it additionally cast a gloomy communitarian shadow on the Lower House. AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini reports about the (non)outcome of a parliamentary morning abruptly ended by an ethnically-polarized, politically-motivated strife. It had not started […]

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A Taleban ‘Shock and Awe’ Campaign

Fabrizio Foschini •

The recent string of attacks, seemingly aimed at hitting in the heart of Afghan cities in a spectacular and murderous manner, continues. Starting from the battle at the Kandahar central police station on 12 February, in a ten-day span four more attacks – unlike the former aimed at soft, largely civilian targets – hit population […]

War and Peace Read more

Even the Upper House does not listen to the President

Obaid Ali •

In an unusual development in present-day Afghanistan, the Meshrano Jirga (also called Senate, the upper house of the Parliament) achieved a fully operative status. The recent introduction of the appointed senators by President Karzai, although delayed, has made it one of the few state institutions with no missing, expired or unapproved (acting) members. It even […]

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The Start of Impunity: the killing of Dr Abdul Rahman

Kate Clark •

[Photo: Dr Abdul Rahman (with dark glasses) standing behind German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer (left) and later Afghan Minister of Economy Amin Farhang (r.) at the Bonn conference in 2001.] Everyone has their watershed moments when alarm bells started ringing over the post-2001 political settlement in Afghanistan. For AAN’s senior analyst, Kate Clark, one pivotal […]

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Carla Grissman, Defender of the Kabul Museum Remembered (amended)

Kate Clark •

Carla Grissman, one of the great defenders of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage, has died in her eighties at her home in London. From 1969 she was involved in supporting the National Museum in Kabul. From its pre-war glory days as one of the best ‘small’ museums in the world(*), through to the worst of times – […]

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Shelters in the Storm: The Controversy over Women’s Safehouses

Sari Kouvo •

The Afghan government accuses women’s shelters of corruption, while women’s rights advocates criticize the government for believing rumors rather than facts and succumbing to the pressure of conservatives. Whatever the outcome of this controversy, the victims are likely to be the women who have sought refuge in the shelters – most of them fleeing situations […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Baseless Words – or: A Little Coaching for Christopher Hitchens

Thomas Ruttig •

A reply to Chistopher Hitchens’ under-researched rant against what he calls the human rights ‘activists’ community that ‘finally notices the Taliban’s war crimes’. AAN’s senior analyst Thomas Ruttig points to some reports that show how far this is from truth. There we get it: ‘The human rights community finally notices the Taliban’s war crimes. […] […]

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