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 Muhammad Omar everybody should listen to

Fabrizio Foschini •

In this Pashto Mashto blog, Fabrizio Foschini goes for a stroll in Kabul’s musical scene, according to his own, rather personal experience of it. I have always been a lazy student. When, on some Fridays, my ustad wakes me up shouting over the phone ‘Ahmad where the hell are you? Come, and today don’t bring your rubab! […]

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PashtoMashtoLeaks (1): Bagram Calling

AAN Team •

Yesterday, the BBC reported as follows: ‘President Barack Obama has told US troops in Afghanistan they are making crucial “progress” against insurgents. During an unannounced visit to Bagram air base near Kabul, Mr Obama said: “Today we can be proud that there are fewer areas under Taliban control.” He also spoke to President Hamid Karzai […]

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2010 Election (39): Ghazni’s Election Drama – It’s the System (amended)

Thomas Ruttig •

The IEC has announced the eagerly awaited result for Ghazni, which were the last of the outstanding Wolesi Jirga seats. At the same time, IEC chairman Manawi informed that this was ‘the final duty of the IEC regarding the parliamentary elections’ of 2010. This also means that he is planning not to deal with any […]

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2010 Election (38): Who is coming from Baghlan?

Gran Hewad •

The disqualification of votes by he IEC affected the outcome of the 18 September election a great deal in Baghlan province, too. It seems that some strong Pashtun candidates’s success has been hindered in particular. At a time when supporters of two disqualified candidates are organising extensive demonstrations and blockades on the Kabul–Mazar-e Sharif highway, […]

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Afghan Government Declares Kabul Smog Holiday

Kate Clark •

From tomorrow, 1 December, until the end of the Afghan year (20 March), Kabul will enjoy a proper, two-day weekend. Every Thursday, government offices will be closed and workers asked to stay at home. But it is not a social achievement – it is a smog-induced extra holiday, an attempt to give this polluted city […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

2010 Elections (37): What’s in a name? – The Results

Kate Clark •

Just days before September’s elections, AAN made the rash prediction that it would be interesting to see how the brothers, daughters and sons of the rich and famous would do in the polls. We had noticed just how many were running – a brother of Vice-President Khalili, two cousins of President Karzai, a brother of […]

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2010 Elections (36): The Post-Election Protest Wave

Other AAN •

Just when the first round of protests staged by parliamentary candidates who did not find their names in the winning preliminary results was waning, a conspicuous new round of disqualifications and then the announcement of the final results have poured fresh gasoline on the fire. The dramatic intervention of the Attorney General has stoked the […]

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Kabul graffiti. Photo: Thomas Ruttig.

Nine Years and Fifty Days

Thomas Ruttig •

Unfortunately, I do not have much time to follow the Afghan press – and even less the many Afghan TV and radio stations. But it is worth tuning in – and if it is only to be reminded of a historical coincidence. So, here a few impressions on what I picked up over the past […]

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2010 Elections (35): How the West was won

Fabrizio Foschini •

The controversial final results of the parliamentary elections are out, and it is time to look at the impact of the decisions made by the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), even though it is still not clear to what extent the Attorney General’s interventions will be able to affect the final tally. AAN analyst Fabrizio Foschini […]

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2010 Elections (34): Glossing over and moving on

Martine van Bijlert •

Yesterday, on 24 November, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced the final results for all but one of the Parliament’s constituencies. The UN and US were quick to welcome the move, having been desperate to do so for weeks. The message is clear and is by now a familiar one: ‘The process was messy, it […]

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Giving Thanks on Black Friday

Thomas Ruttig •

Parental advisory: Attention, attention! The following blog is satirical. People without a sense of humour are strongly advised to stop reading here. Thank you to Imroz TV for displaying the moral rottenness of the West through its misidentification of one previously unknown individual as a representative of the world community. Thank you to Mark Sedwill […]

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2010 Elections (33): An almost final result

Thomas Ruttig •

Finally, more than two months after E-Day, we’ve got them: the final results of yet another of Afghanistan’s fraud-ridden elections. Or have we? After today’s announcement by the Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC), we know 238 out of the 249 members of the lower house, the Wolesi Jirga – something which the IEC called a […]

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