Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Special Reports

Special Reports – formerly known as thematic reports or briefing papers – are more substantive publications on subjects that are high on the policy agenda. Special Reports are all externally peer-reviewed.

Afghan Refugees camp under a Paris canal bridge (September 2015). Photo: Evan Bench [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

»Wir wussten, dass sie in Kabul keine Zukunft hatten«: Fluchtentscheidungen afghanischer Familien

AAN Team •

The German version of our study ‘“We Knew They Had No Future in Kabul”: Why and How Afghan Families Decide to Leave’ (link here) in cooperation with and funded by the Afghanistan office of the German Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Foundation) (FES) is out now and can be read and/or downloaded here as well as on the FES website. The increasing […]

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Photo: Christine Roehrs 2015

Economic Management in Afghanistan: What worked, what didn’t, and why?

Bill Byrd •

Afghanistan’s past experience with economic management has seen both notable successes and salient failures. A new paper for AAN by Bill Byrd, a former head of the World Bank in Afghanistan (currently a senior expert with the US Institute of Peace), reviews several economic policies during the period 2002-2014. It points to important lessons for Afghanistan’s […]

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Beyond Jihad and Traditionalism: Afghanistan’s new generation of Islamic activists

Borhan Osman •

Not all Afghan youth who are politically active and who want to change the status quo fit into the often simplified categories of being either progressive and educated, or uneducated and subversive. There is an often-overlooked segment of Afghanistan’s youth that is educated and engages in modern political debates and activities, while at the same […]

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Shah Shuja holding a durbar (court) at Kabul, Afghanistan.

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

Noah Arjomand •

The latest AAN report, a discussion paper named “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 […]

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“RS – ta’alimat, kumak, mashwerat” (training, assistance, advice) reads the coat-of-arms of the new NATO military mission in Afghanistan. Photo: NATO (https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_116351.htm).

Resolute Support Light: NATO’s New Mission versus the ANSF Political Economy

Philipp Münch •

AAN’s first paper of the new year – “Resolute Support Light: NATO’s New Mission versus the Political Economy of the Afghan National Security Forces” by guest author Philipp Münch – looks at NATO’s chances of achieving its goals in Afghanistan with Resolute Support (RS). The mission replaced ISAF on 1 January 2015. NATO’s motto in Afghanistan has […]

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Photo: Pajhwok

Between Co-operation and Insulation: Afghanistan’s Relations with the Central Asian Republics

Christian Bleuer • S Reza Kazemi •

The latest AAN report, “Between Co-operation and Insulation: Afghanistan’s Relations with the Central Asian Republics”, by Christian Bleuer and Said Reza Kazemi, looks at the state of Afghanistan’s relationships to the former Soviet republics of Central Asia to the north. The authors look at the multi- and bilateral cooperation on various levels and from both […]

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Bureaucratic Policies and Patronage Politics: Prospects and Challenges of Private Higher Education in Afghanistan

Niamatullah Ibrahimi •

The latest AAN report, “Bureaucratic Policies and Patronage Politics: Prospects and Challenges of Private Higher Education in Afghanistan” by Niamatullah Ibrahimi, looks into the impressive growth of private higher education sector in Afghanistan in recent years but how this growth is overlooking the comprehensive policies and long-term vision towards a better quality education and its […]

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External Publication: Einiges besser, nichts wirklich gut (Some things better, nothing really good)

Thomas Ruttig •

WeltTrends, January/February 2014 In this German-language article, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig attempts to draw a balance of the twelve years of the US/NATO-led intervention in Afghanistan. Looking at the security situation, the state of the insurgency, achievements and shortcomings in reconstruction, the economy and institution building and at the often-overlooked social situation of the population. He concludes that […]

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The Social Wandering of the Afghan Kuchis: Changing patterns, perceptions and politics of an Afghan community

Fabrizio Foschini •

The latest AAN report, ‘The Social Wandering of the Afghan Kuchis: changing patterns, perceptions and politics of an Afghan community,’ by Fabrizio Foschini, explores the major impact of changing social, economic and political conditions on the Kuchi community over recent years and its consequences for their position in Afghan society. Afghan nomads have always aroused […]

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Local Afghan Power Structures and the International Military Intervention

Philipp Münch •

The latest AAN report “Local Afghan Power Structures and the International Military Intervention” looks at how the presence of German and other international military in Kunduz and Badakhshan impacted local power structures. The two provinces serve as case studies to help answer the question if ISAF forces have been successful in supporting the central government to extend […]

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Tell Us How This Ends. Transitional Justice and Prospects for Peace in Afghanistan

P. Gossman • Sari Kouvo •

AAN’s latest thematic report “Tell Us How This Ends: Transitional Justice and Prospects for Peace in Afghanistan” by Patricia Gossman and Sari Kouvo, asks whether, after 35 years of conflict, Afghanistan can move forward without addressing the legacies of its violent past? A timely and relevant question in the context of current efforts to find […]

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Girls actually in the classroom. Getting Afghan children, especially girls, to school, has been considered a major success story for post-Taleban Afghanistan, but how many children appearing in the statistics are ‘ghosts'? (Photo: Christine-Felice Roehrs)

The Ongoing Battle for Education. Uprisings, Negotiations and Taleban Tactics

Antonio Giustozzi • Claudio Franco •

In a follow-up to a December 2011 report, AAN revisits the ongoing negotiations between the Afghan Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Taleban. The earlier report, ‘The Battle for Schools: The Taleban and State Education’, focused on the changing Taleban attitudes towards Afghanistan’s state schools, allowing for the opening of schools in some of the […]

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