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.

Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way to Go Online: Afghanistan’s youth and new media

Theresa Falke •

Afghanistan’s mobile phone sector has made great strides and is often named as one of the success stories of post-2001 reconstruction. Although the immediate economic benefit for users is debatable, it has opened new possibilities for Afghans to communicate outside of the all-encompassing social control, particularly for women. But internet access has not kept pace […]

Context and Culture Read more

Handing Over Alive: Whither Afghanistan’s political transition?

Thomas Ruttig •

When President Hamed Karzai left office after the completion of his two constitutional terms and handed over to President Muhammad Ashraf Ghani, as he now officially prefers to be called, this was widely called the ‘first peaceful political transition’ – read: without violence or the head of state being immediately killed – in a very […]

Political Landscape Read more
The men of the Heart of Asia process at their Beijing meeting. Photo: Pajhwok

More bilateral than multilateral effects: The Afghanistan conference in China

S Reza Kazemi •

The fourth foreign ministerial conference of the Afghanistan-centred Heart of Asia/Istanbul process in Beijing on 31 October 2014 demonstrated a lack of progress in the regional cooperation in many respects, from its organisation to the funding. Nevertheless, it produced a few, rather mixed, results. These include, at a minimum, developments in Sino-Afghan relations and in Sino-American […]

Regional Relations Read more

A new Afghan Shia Leader: Return to quietism versus political Islam?

Qayoom Suroush •

A new leader is emerging in Afghanistan’s Shia community, one who so far has chosen to abstain from any presence or involvement in the religious or political affairs of the country. Ayatollah Mohammad Eshaq Fayaz is being supported by Afghan Shia – among them rather influential figures such as Second Vice President Sarwar Danish – […]

Political Landscape Read more

Elections 2014 (54): Provincial council results creaking under the weight of manipulation

Martine van Bijlert •

The provincial council vote is finally over. It has been fully overshadowed by the drawn-out and contentious presidential election – as could be expected and has been the case in the past as well. Attention dwindled as election fatigue crept in, which meant that its separate audit and complaints processes were almost exclusively followed by […]

Political Landscape Read more
Presidents Ghani and Xi, during the former's second trip abroad, after umrah in Saudi Arabia. Photo c/o ToloNews.

On the Road through Beijing (and Kathmandu): The new Afghan leadership’s attempts to engage with Asia

S Reza Kazemi •

Compelled by widening economic and other challenges, the new Afghan government seems determined to diversify Afghanistan’s foreign relations by slowly forging stronger economic and political ties with countries in the region. For this purpose, it has at least two cards to play: the country’s geographic position as a corridor for regional trade and its natural […]

Regional Relations Read more
Streets of Khanabad. Photo: Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands, under creative commons license

Security in Kunduz Worsening Further: The case of Khanabad

Christian Bleuer • Obaid Ali •

Kunduz has had the worst security environment of any province in the north for the past few years. And within this province there are several districts that are particularly notable for the intractable conflicts raging within them. One notable area in this regard is Khanabad district, where government forces, nominally pro-government militias, illegal armed groups […]

War and Peace Read more

The New Gangs of Herat: How young Afghans turn away from their community

S Reza Kazemi •

In the city of Herat, an increasing number of young people drop out of school, form petty gangs, become drug addicts and generally have problems with their community. Many of these youth are also connected to friends abroad with several of them migrating to Iran, Europe and Australia to escape the local community, and recently […]

Context and Culture Read more

From ‘Slavers’ to ‘Warlords’: Descriptions of Afghanistan’s Uzbeks in western writing

Christian Bleuer •

From the early 1800s to the present day, western writers have explored Afghanistan either in person or from a distance, their publications providing a view of Afghanistan’s governments and people to the wider audience in Europe, the United States and the west. However, this view is distorted in many ways. One noticeable case in this […]

Context and Culture Read more

The ‘Other Guantanamo’ (10): Bagram closing: Lawyers worried about ‘ghost detainees’ (an update)

Kate Clark •

Pakistani lawyers have told AAN they fear that when the United States closes its detention facility at Bagram at the end of the year, there may still be ‘ghost detainees’, men whose names, identities – and fate – remains unknown to the outside world. Since the earliest days of the war, the United States has […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

The Start into the Better Governance Marathon: Ghani’s first days

Thomas Ruttig •

New president Ashraf Ghani has proven himself a man intent on not losing time – after so much of it had been lost in post-electoral counting, auditing and political wrangling since April 2014. As opposed to the habits of the Karzai era, the Afghan government did not go into hibernation over the recent Eid-e Qurban […]

Political Landscape Read more

To Syria, not Afghanistan: Central Asian jihadis ‘neglect’ their neighbour

Christian Bleuer •

Since the American and Northern Alliance defeat of the Taleban and their Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) allies in northern Afghanistan in late 2001, the arrival of would-be fighters from the former Soviet countries of Central Asia to Afghanistan has been a very small trickle. And yet, over the last year, the number of Central […]

Regional Relations Read more

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