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.

Hamstrung by Translation: How to analyse Afghanistan in an Afghan language?

Borhan Osman •

The most efficient languages to write about Afghan politics and society ought to be the two main languages of the country, Dari and Pashto. No foreign language can capture the various concepts native to Afghanistan as intricately as native speakers’ own languages do, for example in the case of Pashtunwali customs. However, the local languages […]

Context and Culture Read more

Bamyan, First Ever Cultural Capital of South Asia: A big party, but what else?

Qayoom Suroush •

Five months late and almost half-way through its crucial year, Bamyan has finally been inaugurated as the 2015 South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) cultural capital, the organisation’s first ever. Second Vice President Sarwar Danesh, Second Deputy Chief Executive Muhammad Mohaqeq and Minister of Information and Culture Bari Jahani were among the guests who […]

Context and Culture Read more
Bala Hissar and city of Caubul with the British cantonments from the 'Ba Maroo' Hill

The Folly of Double Government: Lessons from the First Anglo-Afghan War for the 21st century

AAN Team •

The latest AAN report, “The Folly of Double Government: Lessons from the First Anglo-Afghan War for the 21st Century” by guest author Noah Arjomand, revisits Britain’s attempt at state-building in Afghanistan from 1839-1841. The disastrous British retreat from Kabul in January 1842 and the subsequent British pillage of the Afghan capital are well-known events that […]

International Engagement Read more

The Failed Pilot Test: Kunduz’ local governance crisis

Bethany Matta •

The fighting in Kunduz is only one side of the problem. Also issues not related to security are in disarray. Health care, education, agriculture, reconstruction – all are on hold and do not receive much attention from the newly established top level of local authorities. This, AAN guest author Bethany Matta argues, has much to […]

War and Peace Read more

The 2015 Insurgency in the North: Case studies from Kunduz and Sar-e Pul provinces

Obaid Ali •

Kunduz and Sar-e Pul have both been staging grounds for the Taleban’s first major onslaughts of the ‘spring offensive’ that they launched in late April – the first under massive public scrutiny, the second a lesser-known example of the same dynamics. In both provinces, the insurgents managed to get close to the provincial centres, at […]

War and Peace Read more

Banning the Banned from Travel: Taleban Five still in Qatar

Kate Clark •

There has been a spate of stories about the end of the travel ban on the five Taleban detainees released from Guantanamo Bay a year ago and exchanged for the United States soldier Bowe Bergdahl. US politicians and media have been speculating on what impact the five might have on the insurgency if they came […]

War and Peace Read more
The (officially defunct) Taleban office in al-Khor, Qatar. Photo: ToloNews.

Pushing Open the Door to Peace? Pugwash organises next round of Taleban talks in Qatar

Thomas Ruttig •

Preparations are on-going for what are labelled “non-official” talks between Afghans of “different parties.” Organised by the non-governmental academic network, the Pugwash Conference, this will be a follow up to a first round of such talks held in Qatar on 2 and 3 May 2015 which brought members of the two biggest insurgent organisations – […]

War and Peace Read more
Portrait picture of Masum Stanakzai, nominated as minister of defense.

Stanakzai Goes from Peace to War: For Afghanistan, finally a defence minister?

Kate Clark •

The national unity government is making its fourth attempt to appoint a minister of defence. On 24 May 2015, the presidential palace announced the nomination of Masum Stanakzai who has been the head of the Joint Secretariat of the High Peace Council and Afghanistan Peace and Reconciliation Programme since 2009. Members of Parliament will still need […]

Political Landscape Read more

A Delicate Balance: The regional puzzle surrounding Pakistan’s decision to stay out of Yemen

Ann Wilkens • Sudhansu Verma •

Power relations and cooperation patterns are changing around Afghanistan. Its two most intrusive neighbours, Pakistan and Iran, are both at a stage where long-set behaviour seems to be tilting in different directions, with linkages to China (in the case of Pakistan) and the USA (in the case of Iran). At the same time, Pakistan and […]

Regional Relations Read more

Police Treated With Kid Gloves: The many flaws of the Farkhunda trial

Ehsan Qaane • Kate Clark •

An Afghan court has found 11 policemen guilty of dereliction of duty for failing to prevent the murder of religious student Farkhunda by a mob in the centre of Kabul on 19 March 2015. They were all sentenced to one year, the absolute minimum, which means also they may not have to go to jail […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

The Park Palace Attack: More losses for Afghanistan (updated with a list of the dead)

Kate Clark •

The Taleban attack on a Kabul guesthouse which killed 15 people (not 14, as earlier reports said) on 13 May 2015 was aimed, the Taleban claimed, at “invaders”, specifically an “important meeting” of “important people from many invading countries, especially Americans.” In this update of our earlier dispatch, AAN’s Kate Clark identifies all the dead: […]

War and Peace Read more

A Half-Solution: Provincial Councils get oversight authority back – for the time being

Ehsan Qaane • Thomas Ruttig •

Instead of being resolved, the long power struggle between parliament and the Provincial Councils (PC) about how much and what kind of authority the councils would have has entered a new round in 2015 – with no end in sight. In 2014, under the previous president, a new law was designed to solve this issue. […]

Political Landscape Read more

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