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 Other Transfer of Power: Fahim’s death and Massud’s succession

Fabrizio Foschini •

Until the elections of 5 April, the demise of Marshal Mohammed Qasim Fahim constituted the single major political event of 2014 in Afghanistan. His death directly affects the internal politics of a large group of Afghans: all those living in the north-eastern quadrant of the country. Tracing the political ascent of Fahim and assessing the […]

Political Landscape Read more

A Second ‘Death List’: More on those forcibly disappeared in the civil war

P. Gossman •

After last year’s release of a ‘death list’ containing almost 5000 names of men who ‘disappeared’ in the late 1970s, another list is to be publicly available soon, this time listing 671 men who were forcibly disappeared during the civil war in Kabul in the mid-1990s. The document was put together, at the time, by […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Death of a Sahebzada: A story of different strands of thought in the Taleban movement

Bette Dam •

Earlier this year, a radical Afghan religious leader from a family of Sufi Pirs was murdered in Quetta, Pakistan. His name was Abdullah Zakeri Sahebzada. His relationships with the Taleban’s leadership and repeated calls for international jihad had earned him the ‘Taleb’ label in some media. But Zakeri, once a mediator in the Taleban movement, had […]

Context and Culture Read more

Elections 2014 (22): How disenchantment with General Dostum split the Uzbek vote bank

Obaid Ali • Thomas Ruttig •

The outcome in the Uzbek- and Turkmen-dominated provinces in northern Afghanistan of the first round of the 5 April presidential election has turned in an unexpected direction. Jombesh-e Melli-ye Islami-ye Afghanistan’s (The National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan), the self-declared dominating party in this region, had expected to obtain the entire ‘Turkic’ vote for the Ghani-Dostum […]

Political Landscape Read more

2014 Elections (21): A closer look at the IECC’s performance and the challenges it faced

Qayoom Suroush •

For the first time since elections were held in post-Taleban Afghanistan, the country’s Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) has held a series of open sessions addressing electoral complaints. The concept was, in principle, welcomed by independent observers, candidates’ agents and civil society, but the process itself was often confused and rushed and sometimes overly bureaucratic. […]

Political Landscape Read more

2014 Elections (20): The Ashraf Ghani interview

Kate Clark •

In the second of AAN’s interviews with the two remaining Afghan presidential candidates, Ashraf Ghani has challenged his rival, Dr Abdullah, to televised debates – after Abdullah told AAN he did not want any debates this time. Ghani also dared Abdullah’s running mate, the Hazara politician, Muhammad Muhaqeq, to discuss publically with him who has […]

Political Landscape Read more

Elections 2014 (19): Final results’ timeline trumps transparency

Martine van Bijlert •

This morning, on 15 May 2014, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced the final results of the first round of the presidential elections. Both frontrunners have since then publicly accepted the results, while still claiming that in a fair process they would have done better, and are readying themselves for the second round vote that […]

Political Landscape Read more

2014 Elections (18): The Abdullah interview

Kate Clark •

The second round of Afghanistan’s presidential election has not yet been formally announced, but preparations are already underway, with election material just beginning to be sent out across the country. The run-off is pencilled in for 14 June 2014 and, this time, only two names will be on the ballot paper: Dr Abdullah Abdullah and Dr […]

Political Landscape Read more

Slippery Slopes: Ecological, social and developmental aspects of the Badakhshan landslide disaster

Thomas Ruttig •

A huge double landslide, of possibly unprecedented proportions, destroyed parts of a village in Badakhshan’s Argo district and killed a still unconfirmed number of people on 2 May. AAN Senior Analyst Thomas Ruttig looks at the combination of causes of this disaster including the long-term effects of global warming impacting large parts of South Asia, local […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

‘Secret NATO Jails’ that Aren’t Secret: Ambush and drama over detainees

Kate Clark •

In the Afghan government’s latest attempt to wipe out any foreign role in detentions, the commander of the Detention Facility in Parwan (DFIP) on Bagram Air base, General Faruq Barakzai, has said detainees can no longer be sent there. Both US and UK forces have been transferring detainees to the DFIP, which the US finally handed […]

International Engagement Read more

May Day on Workers Street: Trade unions and the status of labour in Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

More than 1,000 Afghan men and women took to the street on International Labour Day on 1 May. With the country’s latest mining disaster, killing at least 24 workers only one day earlier, the participants had one acute problem to address: workers’ safety in the mining sector. However, the new leadership of Afghanistan’s largest trade […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

Bala Hissar, Sherpur fortress and Arg: The architecture of power in Kabul

Bill Woodburn •

Throughout the centuries, the seat of power in Kabul has almost always been within the walls of a strong fortress-palace. That will continue, as whatever the outcome of the current election, the new president will continue to live in the Arg. Guest author Bill Woodburn*, retired military engineer and specialist in fortified architecture, traces the […]

Context and Culture Read more

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