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.

Photographs of some of the victims of ISKP atrocities in Kabul. It is thought that ISKP victims were among those submitting representations to the ICC. 345 forms on behalf of almost more than seven hundred thousand victims have been submitted. (Photo: AAN, 8 December 2017)

Afghan Victims of War Crimes Want Investigation: Hundreds of thousands apply to ICC

Ehsan Qaane •

31 January was the deadline for victims of Afghan war crimes to share their experiences and opinions with the International Criminal Court (ICC). Based on information so far released by the ICC, the Court has received 345 representations on behalf of more than seven hundred thousand victims. These representations are important as they will factor […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more
After the deadly truck bomb that hit Kabul on 31 May 2017. Photo: Andrew Quilty

Five Questions to Make Sense of the New Peak in Urban Attacks and a Violent Week in Kabul

Thomas Ruttig •

Between 20 and 29 January 2018, there were five high profile attacks in major cities and districts in Afghanistan. The three by far largest ones happened in the capital Kabul. This feeds into a month-long period of such attacks that began in late December 2017. Altogether, almost 250 people, most of them civilians, were killed […]

War and Peace Read more
One of the refugee families who returned from Pakistan to Afghanistan in 2017. Last year, some 57,000 people returned. This year, a far bigger, forced exodus is feared. Photo: Andrew Quilty, 2017, Nangrahar.

Still Caught in Regional Tensions? The uncertain destiny of Afghan refugees in Pakistan

Jelena Bjelica • Ali Mohammad Sabawoon •

As this dispatch was finalised, the Pakistan government had not made any last-minute extension to the ‘Proof of Registration’ identity cards for Afghan refugees residing in the country. Those cards were due to run out on 31 January 2018. Without an extension, a huge number of people could be forced to go back to Afghanistan […]

Migration Read more
civilian casualties have reached an all-time high, plateauing in 2016 and 2017. children and women represented two thirds of casualties by air strikes in the first nine months of 2017: injured boy in helmand province. photo: andrew quilty (2015)

More violent, more widespread: Trends in Afghan security in 2017

Thomas Ruttig •

Continuing our look back at key developments in Afghanistan in 2017, after migration and peace talks, we come to security. Tracking trends in security has become more difficult, as more areas suffering conflict have become inaccessible and those fighting – both Afghan and international –less transparent. However, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig has identified indicators to gauge […]

War and Peace Read more

Words, No Deeds: 2017, another lost year for peace (talks) in Afghanistan

Obaid Ali • Thomas Ruttig •

Despite a new offer by the Afghan government through the High Peace Council, there was not much movement toward government-Taleban talks to end the war peacefully in the past year. Both sides continue to engage in general pro-peace rhetoric, while allowing little to happen in practice. Currently, they are bogged down in a dispute over […]

War and Peace Read more
Sayed Hafizullah Hashemi, who has been appointed as the new member of the IEC, is being interviewed by a panel led by President Ghani. The interview was conducted at the presidential palace on 13 January 2018 when Hashemi picked.

Afghanistan Election Conundrum (4): New controversies surrounding the appointment of a new electoral commissioner

Ali Yawar Adili •

The need to appoint a new member of the IEC came after its chairman, Najibullah Ahmadzai, was sacked by President Ashraf Ghani on 15 November 2017. The president ordered the Selection Committee, a body responsible for shortlisting candidates for membership of the IEC and ECC, to be reconvened. The body shortlisted three candidates, from which […]

Political Landscape Read more
opium 2022

From Bad to Bombing: US counter-narcotics policies in Afghanistan

Jelena Bjelica •

Afghanistan’s opium-driven economy has been a thorn in side of its international backers, and a major challenge for fighting the insurgency and rebuilding a functioning state. Through the lens of the military side of counter-narcotic strategies, the United States and its international allies have pursued various counter-narcotics approaches, centred mainly on eradication and interdiction. However, […]

International Engagement Read more
For the first time, an MP has accused a fellow MP of corruption. The case eventually went to the Attorney General, but only after the vast majority of other MPs voted to give the accused immunity from prosecution. Photo: Pajhwok archive photo.

Lost in Procedure: How a corruption case in the Afghan parliament was (not) dealt with

Jelena Bjelica • Rohullah Sorush •

The lower house of the Afghan Parliament – the Wolesi Jirga – has a long-standing and unflattering reputation for corruption, which ranges from members of parliament receiving bribes for votes of confidence to arranging lucrative contracts. The latest allegation, however, was the first time that an MP had accused a fellow MP of corruption. This […]

Political Landscape Read more

Pressure and Peril: Afghan refugees and Europe in 2017

Thomas Ruttig •

The number of Afghan refugees arriving on Europe’s shores this year was significantly lower than in 2015 and 2016, but the arrivals have not stopped. In 2017, there were still a few thousand Afghans making the hazardous trip across the Mediterranean to the continent, and tens of thousands more continued to be on the move inside […]

Migration Read more
Cover of Afghan Info. Issue no 79, October 2016.

“The Rédactrice Says Farewell”: A goodbye to the Afghanistan Info (1980-2017)

Thomas Ruttig •

It is already December and time to look back at the year almost just passed. Before we come to the macro issues of Afghanistan’s political, security and socio-economic situation in 2017, we want to say “thank you” to Micheline Centlivres-Demont and Pierre Centlivres, and wish a “goodbye” to the Afghanistan Info, a bulletin of news […]

Context and Culture Read more

The Soul of Herat’s Citadel Comes Home: Reflections on an exhibition of miniatures

Kate Clark •

A historic exhibition of reproductions of miniatures has opened in the Citadel in Herat where many of the pictures were painted in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. At that time, Herat was a centre of Islamic art and culture. In the decades that followed, as dynasties fell or moved, the miniatures were scattered, eventually ending […]

Context and Culture Read more
On 11 Dalw 1395 (30 January 2017), the IEC had put the options for electoral districts to consultation with civil society organisations. Photo: IEC

The Afghanistan Election Conundrum (3): The dilemma of electoral constituencies

Ali Yawar Adili •

It looks increasingly unlikely that the next parliamentary (and district council) elections can be held as planned on 7 July 2018. Although the Independent Election Commission (IEC) continues its preparations for the polls, important questions remain unresolved. Due to a lack of consensus, the electoral system remains unchanged, but the IEC has been grappling with […]

Political Landscape Read more

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