Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

AAN Team

A Sad Nawruz: Violence risks tainting an important Afghan holiday

AAN Team •

AAN had wanted to wake up on a Friday, post its piece about Nawruz special food traditions, and enjoy the quiet of one of the last weekends before elections and more hectic days of work. That this was a delusion became clear as details about yesterday’s attack at Kabul’s Serena hotel started to emerge. On […]

War and Peace Read more

Will We Ever Learn? An evaluation of US aid in Afghanistan

AAN Team •

International assistance is coming under ever closer scrutiny. In response, to understand the impact of assistance and ensure transparency and accountability, thousands of project documents are generated, evaluations conducted and reports written. All contain lessons aimed at informing the development of future assistance programmes. With regard to Afghanistan, as 2014 marks the withdrawal of international […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

Innocent, guilty – useful? What’s behind the US-Afghan clash over 88 prisoners from Bagram

AAN Guests • AAN Team •

The Afghan government announced yesterday (7 January) that it would go ahead with the release of 88 Taleban prisoners from Bagram despite US objections. American politicians, including two senior US senators who visited Kabul in early January, have warned of further damage to US-Afghan bilateral relations if the prisoner release goes forward. The issue has […]

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A happy and peaceful new year!

AAN Team •

Dear readers, here at AAN, we would like to wish you a happy new year. For Afghanistan, 2014 is a year of many expectations but also anxieties. May it be a year of successful transition, harmonious cooperation and real peace negotiations. We will be here to accompany you. The AAN team

Context and Culture Read more

Merry Christmas!

AAN Team •

Here at AAN, we’d like to wish all our readers a Happy Christmas! May your holidays, in Afghanistan as well as abroad, be peaceful.   For those who remain in Kabul and wish to celebrate in style, AAN made a trip to Flower Street in Shar-e Naw to check on the availability of Christmas glitter and […]

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A Very Happy Eid-e Qurban!

AAN Team •

Here at AAN, we’d like to wish all our dear readers a very happy Eid-e Qurban and for Afghanistan peace in the coming year. We marked the last Eid with a celebratory dispatch of ten stories from Afghans on their customs and memories of Eid al-Fitr. Today, we are publishing a report from AAN analyst Christine Roehrs […]

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Football Victory II: A night and a day of celebrations

AAN Team •

It was a burst of massive happiness, a moment of sheer bliss and pride, something few Afghans have experienced much of in the past and thus even more powerful: only moments after Afghanistan won the South Asian Football Federation Championship, defeating India with 2:0, waves of people filled the streets of Kabul and many other […]

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Football Victory I: Lions beating Tigers – the match report

AAN Team •

The jubilation of football players who have just won a cup final is similar the world over, but neither Bayern Munich, who won this year’s European Champions League, or Spain, who won the last World Cup, celebrated as the Afghan national team did in Nepal last night. They danced wildly, threw their manager in the air […]

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Happy Eid! And ten stories of celebrations and customs from all over the country

AAN Team •

Finally, after a month of dawn-to-sunset fasting, Eid al Fitr approaches, the Feast of the Breaking the Fast. The country will slow down significantly, Afghans take three to seven days off, the men go for Eid prayers, and for once there will be (hopefully) more play than politics. But Eid is more than that. There […]

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Baghlan on the Brink: ANSF weaknesses and Taleban resilience

AAN Team •

Is Baghlan province in the north of Afghanistan on the way to becoming a new stronghold of the insurgents? Two incidents symbolise this trend. On 20 May, one of the most powerful anti-Taleban commanders in the north, Mohammad Rasul Mohseni, died in a suicide attack. On 4 May, three Afghan police and one German soldier […]

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Despite Growing Ulema Conservatism: Afghans Managed to Celebrate Nawruz

AAN Team •

Increasingly, during the last few years, the millennia-old celebrations of Nawruz, the New Year which starts at the spring equinox, ie around 21 March, has become the object of a religious debate in Afghanistan. Although the spring festivity is a major official holiday and continues to be a popular occasion for families to go on […]

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‘Pashto Mashto? Nakhair, Chat Mat.’

AAN Team •

Dear readers of Pashto Mashto, As you may have noticed already, with the new year has come a new name for this series, although the content will go on as usual. Here is why. The inaugural blog of this series, back in January 2010, has proven prophetic when it said the series would not, ‘try […]

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