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.

Guest Blog: Mining the ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’

Thalia Kennedy •

The big Logar copper mine of Mes-e Aynak, with its Buddhist finds, epitomizes a dilemma many countries are facing: excavate your natural resources or protect your cultural heritage (and natural environment). In Afghanistan, after three decades of violent conflict, the latter is threatened to lose out in this competition. But as the country’s archeological sites, […]

Context and Culture Read more

MPs unite and split, while Special Court raids the IEC

Fabrizio Foschini •

The Lower House of the Afghan parliament is still trying to overcome the difficult hurdle of electing its speaker. Different groups of MPs are arranging for alternative, if not conflicting, solutions. AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini listened to different opinions on the best way to get out of the impasse, and discusses their pro and cons. What […]

Political Landscape Read more

A Tahrir Effect in Kabul?

Thomas Ruttig •

Tunis, Cairo. Mass demonstrations in Sanaa, Amman and Algiers, smaller ones in Damascus, Nouakschott and Khartum. Even in Azerbaijan people started protesting after they realized that they had a Mubarak statue in the Azeri-Egyptian Friendship Park in their capital Baku. Many people have been asking: Is this the fifth wave of democratization now? And some […]

Political Landscape Read more

Political Theatre around PRTs

Barbara Stapleton •

President Hamed Karzai wants to close down the PRTs and some other unspecified ‘unnecessary international institutions’ the presence of which he sees as ‘major barriers against our efforts for state building'(*). This is what he said when opening the newly elected Afghan parliament on 26 January. He repeated this at his 6 February speech at […]

Political Landscape Read more

AAN Reads: The Great Talqaida Myth

Thomas Ruttig •

Al-Qaida and the Taleban are basically the same, they are fanatical Islamist extremists who hate the West and are an imminent danger for all of us. This, at least, is what one influential school of terrorism experts says – which informs the latest US policy on Afghanistan which, on paper, concentrates on ‘disrupting’ al-Qaida while, […]

War and Peace Read more

Wolesi Jirga, Next Movement: Andantino con Blackout (amended)

Fabrizio Foschini •

Another two inconclusive sessions – when it comes to the election of the speaker – of the Wolesi Jirga, the Lower House in Kabul, have been held over the Western weekend. But they were worth following, nevertheless, since they brought interesting, ‘anti-authoritarian’ decisions: new candidates will run and not the two main contenders, Sayyaf and […]

Political Landscape Read more

The Terrible F-Word

Mario Ragazzi •

Remind me who had said this 😉 that failure is no option. Or is it? At least the European Parliament thinks so and has said it in a recent resolution – that the international strategy in Afghanistan has failed? Our frequent reader and today’s guest blogger Mario Ragazzi(*) has asked himself what we mean when […]

Political Landscape Read more

Lower House speaker election: Intermezzo of the Surprise Candidates

Fabrizio Foschini • Gran Hewad •

As widely predicted, also the second attempt to elect a speaker of the newly inaugurated Wolesi Jirga that took place on Wednesday did not give any decisive result. Afghanistan’s lower house now has held already its first four sessions without being able to do so. AAN’s Gran Hewad and Fabrizio Foschini have attended the meeting […]

Political Landscape Read more

Afghanistan’s new parliament and yet another election (updated)

Fabrizio Foschini •

130 days after the parliamentary vote and 64 days after the final results, not to mention a fair deal of wrangling, the new Wolesi Jirga was inaugurated on Wednesday 26 January. The process had been long and full of hurdles and it is still not completely certain that it is over. As late as Saturday […]

Political Landscape Read more

Handing over Responsibilities in Afghanistan

Martine van Bijlert •

International actors in Afghanistan have long been torn between negative trends, bleak assessments, ambitious strategies and ritualistic reports of hopeful developments. Their publics at home are uneasy about the lack of clarity on why their forces are in Afghanistan and what exactly they are achieving. Well-informed diplomats and policymakers are often very pessimistic in private, […]

International Engagement Read more

What comes after the Transition?

Martine van Bijlert •

This evening I will be debating whether the West has failed in Afghanistan. Earlier this week I was asked to comment on Dutch plans to send a police mission to Kunduz. A week ago I spent two days brainstorming on what a sustainable transition in Afghanistan could look like (transition being code for phased exit). […]

International Engagement Read more

High Hurdles Race to the Afghan Parliament (updated)

Fabrizio Foschini •

As expected, President Karzai’s announcement of 5-to-12 to delay the Parliament’s inauguration for one month has opened a tough political match. For the last three days, the winning candidates have kept meeting every morning at the Intercontinental hotel. The majority remained committed to proceed with the inauguration on Sunday as well as with their rejection […]

Political Landscape Read more

Subscribe to receive updates from the Afghanistan Analysts Network

Sign up