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 New Kabul ‘Green Belt’ Security Plan: More Security for Whom?

Jelena Bjelica • Kate Clark •

Following the devastating 31 May 2017 bomb attack in the Afghan capital, President Ashraf Ghani commissioned his security experts to develop a new security plan for Kabul. Although apparently not officially approved or fully funded yet, the plan called the ‘Zarghun Belt’ (Green Belt) was announced in mid-August. Jelena Bjelica and Kate Clark (with input […]

War and Peace Read more
Haji Zaher Qader on the battlements. Credit: Zaher's Facebook Page, posted 12 February 2016

More Militias? Part 2: The proposed Afghan Territorial Army in the fight against ISKP

Borhan Osman • Kate Clark •

In recent days, Afghan government officials have raised the possibility of standing up a new militia force, the Afghan Territorial Army (ATA), modelled after both its Indian namesake and the Afghan Local Police (ALP). AAN understands that President Ghani is currently considering a pilot project for the ATA in the Achin and Kot districts of […]

War and Peace Read more
ALP and ANP prepare ammunition for a live fire training exercise in Helmand province, 2013 (US Marine photo Sgt. Pete Thibodeau

More Militias? Part 1: Déjà vu double plus with the proposed ‘Afghan Territorial Army’

Kate Clark •

The Afghan government and its United States military backers are considering standing up a new militia force, an army version of the Afghan Local Police (ALP) and modelled on the Indian Territorial Army. Officials claim this is their only option if isolated communities are to be protected from insurgents. Human rights groups have reacted with […]

War and Peace Read more

Non-Pashtun Taleban of the North (4): A case study from Jawzjan

Obaid Ali •

The Taleban have put in place administrative and military institutions in northern Jawzjan province that function relatively well. The shadow administrative posts are held by local non-Pashtuns. The recruitment of Uzbeks, in particular, has proved effective for the Taleban. However, Daesh’s appearance in this Uzbek-dominated province has created concerns, not only for the local government, […]

War and Peace Read more

Afghan Asylum Seekers in Italy: A place of temporary respite

Fabrizio Foschini • Jelena Bjelica •

The number of Afghan asylum seekers in Italy has been steadily rising over the last decade. Numbers grew particularly rapidly between 2013 and 2015 and only in recent months have they slowed down. Throughout the last ten years, not only has Italy become a fixture in the mental map of Afghan migrants, but it has […]

Migration Read more

Nancy Hatch Dupree’s Last Project: Afghan History Revealed in Photographs

Martine van Bijlert • Kate Clark •

AAN was due to post this dispatch when we heard the news of the death of the great archivist, historian and advocate for Afghanistan, Nancy Hatch Dupree. The piece looks at Nancy’s last project, the uploading of thousands of historical photographs to the website of the Afghanistan Centre at the Kabul University (ACKU), the successor […]

Context and Culture Read more
Afghan minors teaching Italian kids to fly kites, Trieste 2016 - photo by Fabrizio Foschini

Afghan Child Migrants: Italy, the preferred country of transit?

Fabrizio Foschini • Jelena Bjelica •

Over 100,000 unaccompanied Afghan minors, almost all of them male and generally between 14 and 17 years of age, applied for asylum in Europe between 2008 and 2016, making Afghanistan the single largest country of origin for this group of refugees. While Germany and Sweden received by far the highest number of applications, Italy became […]

Migration Read more

Happy Eid … اختر مو مبارک/عید مبارک

AAN Team •

اختر مو مبارک/عید مبارک دافغانستان د تحلیل ګرانو شبکه د نیکمرغه لوي اختر د راسیدو له امله د افغانستان مسلمان ولس ته دزړه له کومي مبارکی وایي. هیله ده چي دلوي اختر له برګته په افغانستان ګی سولي، ثبات او روروالي تینګ شي شبکه تحلیل گران افغانستان فرا رسیدن عید قربان به مردم متدین و […]

Context and Culture Read more
Afghan citizen Gul Rahman froze to death in November 2002 in a CIA torture site north of Kabul. His family will now receive compensation. Photo: ACLU.

Held Accountable for Torture: CIA psychologists compensate family of dead Afghan

Kate Clark •

A landmark case in the United States means that, for the first time, two of those responsible for the CIA’s post-2001 torture programme, have been held accountable in the courts. Much of this torture programme was carried out on Afghan soil. The two psychologists who designed and implemented the programme, have paid compensation to two […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Afghanistan’s New Law on Freedom of Assembly: Limiting the space to demonstrate

Ehsan Qaane •

A new law on freedom of assembly is under consideration in Afghanistan. The National Security Council (NSC) decided to replace the current Law on Gatherings, Demonstrations and Strikes (hereafter called the Assembly Law) after the deadly explosion which targeted protesters in the Deh Mazang area of Kabul on 23 July 2016. A draft of the […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

“Not nation-building,” but “killing terrorists”: Trump’s ‘new’ strategy for Afghanistan

Kate Clark •

The American president’s long-awaited announcement on United States policy in Afghanistan has finally been made: more troops (number unspecified) and no end-date to the US deployment; fighting “to win” (defined only as preventing a Taleban take-over), aiming at “killing terrorists” and not “nation-building”; new, unspecified threats against Pakistan to stop supporting the Taleban and a […]

International Engagement Read more

The Ghost of Najibullah: Hezb-e Watan announces (another) relaunch

Thomas Ruttig • Ali Yawar Adili •

A new attempt is underway to relaunch Hezb-e Watan, the ruling party that was revamped by President Najibullah in 1990 when he renamed the PDPA and tried to shed it’s communist past. Although the intention is to bring together an important segment of the former leftist forces in Afghanistan, the relaunch also has the potential […]

Political Landscape Read more

Subscribe to receive updates from the Afghanistan Analysts Network

Sign up