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.

Drugs, plots and stockpiles: Afghanistan’s failing poppy crop

Kate Clark •

A mysterious desease is spreading through Afghanistan’s poppy fields: Is it a secret counter-narcotics operation or simply caused by nature? And what do ‘the markets say’? Answers given by Kate Clark, AAN Senior Analyst ‘Reports of a “mysterious” fungus that has damaged opium poppy crops in Afghanistan have hit international headlines’ writes a breathless commentator […]

Context and Culture Read more

The MP (not) always runs twice

Fabrizio Foschini •

The nomination of candidates for September’s parliamentary elections has been completed. It went reasonably smoothly and the preliminary list of nominees has been released by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). A first look at the process by AAN researcher Fabrizio Foschini. It was a relatively short registration process, down from one month in 2005 to […]

Political Landscape Read more

“Oh let it rain, let it rain on the fields, let it drench the head scarf of my beloved”

Kate Clark •

Going to Bamian and Yakaolang brings up a lot of memories and shows how times have changed since Taleban times. An AAN ‘travel blog’, by Kate Clark, currently a Senior Analyst with AAN. Getting out of Kabul for me usually means heading to the hot and dusty south or south east to report on the […]

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New Bureaucracies to Welcome ‘Upset Brothers’

Kate Clark •

Jobs, training, psychosocial counselling and block grants: A look at the Afghan government’s new ‘peace and reintegration’ plan to bring home the Taleban. By Kate Clark (with input from Thomas Ruttig) Reading the draft of the Afghan government’s programme for peace and reintegration is a surreal experience, starting with the opening and the first sentence’s […]

Political Landscape Read more

Guest Blog: We are One Tribe – and Live in The Society of Intervention

Michael Daxner •

A critique of intervening half-education, in reply to Major Jim Gant’s much-read blog and paper ‘One Tribe at a Time’. By Prof. Michael Daxner (*) Important notice for the readers: it is unusual for blogs to annotate them with references from scientific literature. However, I will use some special terms that may raise your interest […]

International Engagement Read more

An Honest Transfer or ‘The Devil May Care’?

Thomas Ruttig •

‘Transfer of Security Responsibility’ is one of the latest buzzwords in Afghanistan. It is part of the NATO strategy also sometimes described as ‘Afghanisation’. But, maybe, the latter resounds too closely with the term ‘Vietnamisation’. So, it is more probable that we will have to get used to yet another acronym: TSR. The ‘TSR’ concept […]

War and Peace Read more

PEACE JIRGA BLOG 2: Peace Jirga goes to Washington: whose opinions count on reconciling Taliban?

Kate Clark •

‘Peace Jirga goes to Washington,’ was the headline in Payam-e Mujahid newspaper this week. The headline sums up how politics have been on hold in Afghanistan since President Karzai was invited to Washington and also, very succinctly, where the power of decision-making in Afghanistan lies. By Kate Clark, currently engaged as Senior Analyst with AAN. […]

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Counterinsurgency in Kandahar: what happened to the fence?

Martine van Bijlert •

A short visit to Kandahar, as it has been a while. In the afternoon there is a donkey cart bomb several blocks away. It kills three children, destroys a police post and rattles the office I am visiting. The blast of moving air tells the body something about vulnerability that it had forgotten. In the […]

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Getting ready for the next election: the IEC pushes ahead

Martine van Bijlert •

The country is gearing up for the next election. Local notables and the ambitious young are consulting and assessing the support they can muster. The Wolesi Jirga is still protesting the adoption of the new electoral decree, but nobody seems to be listening and the candidate registration process, which starts within a few days, will […]

Political Landscape Read more

Reliable partners

Martine van Bijlert •

The pendulum has swung again. After a few days of crisis and strained relations the US administration has publicly smoothed over the unease and the anger and has welcomed Karzai back into the ranks of ‘reliable partners’. Letters have been sent, joint appearances made and reassuring statements given. It is difficult to know what is […]

International Engagement Read more

Separating the government, the Taliban and the people (2): Meanwhile in the provinces

Martine van Bijlert •

Meanwhile in the provinces the lines are blurring even further. This is illustrated by recent instructions from the Quetta shura on how to treat people working for the government or the internationals. The instructions were communicated to Taliban commanders in the south by traveling delegations and are said to have included a set of pointers […]

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Separating the government, the Taliban and the people (1): Karzai and the confusion in Kabul

Martine van Bijlert •

Over the last few days Karzai has found it increasingly difficult to stop saying in public all the things that he has been saying in private for months: who do these foreigners think they are, what are they playing at, and do they really think they can push me and my people around forever? Observers […]

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