Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

War and Peace

This thematic category brings together AAN’s reporting on the conflict in Afghanistan, its underlying causes and drivers, the various armed actors and how it affects Afghans in their everyday lives.

Looking at the Azra Hospital Attack (amended)

Thomas Ruttig • Fabrizio Foschini •

The suicide car-bomb attack that destroyed the civilian hospital of Logar’s eastern-most district Azra on 25 June was terrible even for Afghan standards, with now [amended: 29] registered dead and 53 wounded. Amongst the victims were reportedly 15 children waiting for immunisation as well as five toddlers; the 10-bed maternity ward completely destroyed. But the […]

War and Peace Read more

Guest Blog: Author’s Reply to AAN Reading ‘Afgantsy’

Rodric Braithwaite •

It is usually a mistake for an author to come back to a reviewer, but you raise a number of interesting and useful points, which made me think it would be worth breaking the rule, wrote Rodric Braithwaite*, author of ‘Afgantsy’ which primarily looks at the impact of the Afghan war on Soviet people. Here […]

War and Peace Read more

Talking about Civilian Casualties in Kabul (with comment)

Thomas Ruttig •

Last week, on 28 June, ISAF Kabul had invited for a half-day conference on the issue of civilian casualties. The attendance, at least during the first hour, was high-ranking, with Gen. David Petraeus, NATO SCR Simon Gass, NSC chairman Rangin Dadfar Spanta and deputy speakers of both houses of the Afghan parliament. They all left […]

War and Peace Read more

Guest Blog: Reconciliation Reloaded in Khost

Emilie Jelinek •

Once there was the Strengthening Peace programme, with it provincial branches, like here in Khost, to ‘reintegrate’ willing insurgent fighters. It failed because of corruption and a lack of political support. Now, there is its successor programme APRP, and it is unclear whether that’s just a new name on the same project. Our guest blogger […]

War and Peace Read more

Guest Blog: Who is Tayyeb Agha? (amended)

Anand Gopal •

After years of rumors of talks with the Taleban, the US is finally meeting a senior Taleban representative face-to-face. In a series of encounters this spring in Germany and Doha, it has been leaked to the press that US officials have met with Tayyeb Agha, a leading Taleban figure. But the world of the Taleban […]

War and Peace Read more

ATTACK ON KABUL INTERCONTI (updated)

Thomas Ruttig •

A group of six armed insurgents has stormed into Kabul Interconti hotel around 10 pm on 28 June. Around 22.40 local time, we heard a loud single explosion, followed by police cars with sirens approaching the area and heavy but sporadic small arms fire. The group resisted until 4.40 in the morning; the last three […]

War and Peace Read more

Khas Uruzgan violence and ISAF press releases

Martine van Bijlert •

About ten days ago I received news of a nightly ALP raid in Khas Uruzgan, that had resulted in one death, four detainees, several severe beatings, some plunder and a fair amount of local anger. So when I spotted an ISAF press release about a meeting in the district, I assumed it was related to […]

War and Peace Read more

Leaving Afghanistan: Where’s The Progress?

Thomas Ruttig •

Along with other Afghanistan watchers, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig has been asked to comment on President Obama’s announcement of a partial troop withdrawal by Foreign Policy Magazine and the FP-related AfPakChannel. Please read a synthesis of both articles here*. The announcement of the troop drawdown by President Obama last night will not change the military balance […]

War and Peace Read more

Who cares about the Kuchi-Hazara conflict, nowadays?

Fabrizio Foschini •

Having lost hope of not witnessing outbursts of Kuchi-Hazara related violence at least for this year, AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini reports on the recent conflict in Ghazni province, on the situation in neighbouring areas, and a perceived lack of interest on the matter on part of the government and the mass media. It looked as if […]

War and Peace Read more

Guest Blog: Ruling from the Mezzanine – the Balkh case

Michael Daxner •

The debate about the role of former commanders and warlords in the Afghan statehood and its regions, about whether they might integrate into the ‘new’ Afghanistan, become civilised by playing (in) the institutions as well as about what that means for the country’s direction is as controversial as inconclusive. Our guest blogger Michael Daxner* looks […]

War and Peace Read more

Guest Blog: Amrullah Saleh’s new language on the Taleban

Ahmad Shuja •

Former NDS chief, Amrullah Saleh, wrote an op-ed article on Bloomberg.com in which he tacitly agreed to the idea of negotiations with the Taleban and called for a truth commission as a way of reconciliation. Saleh, it seems, is rebranding himself outside Afghanistan as a pragmatic opposition leader open to concessions, writes our guest blogger […]

War and Peace Read more

Taleban Contacts between Smoke and Mirrors: Karzai’s 18 June speech

Thomas Ruttig •

Nothing is what it appears in the T2T drama series. Talking to the Talebs is a cabinet of mirrors. The mirrors make it appear that smoke is rising from one place while the fire is burning at another. And it is not even clear whether this is real smoke and fire, or just Javanese-style shadow […]

War and Peace Read more

Subscribe to receive updates from the Afghanistan Analysts Network

Sign up