Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Borhan Osman

Obituary: The master of modern Pashto ghazal passes away

Borhan Osman •

One of Afghanistan’s most important poets, Muhammad Seddiq Pasarly, has died, aged 85. Known popularly as the ‘Master of Pashto Ghazal’ (Pashto love poems), Pasarly also translated works by Indian poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore and Persian poet and philosopher Omar Khayyam for Pashto readers. AAN’s Borhan Osman has written this obituary.   What is youth? It is […]

Context and Culture Read more

The Counter-Jirga: 3000 participants condemn the US, the Afghan government and the BSA

Borhan Osman •

One of the largest anti-American events witnessed over the past years has taken place in Kabul with 3000 politicians, mullahs and students coming together from across Afganistan to voice their adamant opposition to Afghanistan signing a Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the United States. It comes just days before the government is due to hold […]

War and Peace Read more

Mursi in Kabul: Afghan Islamists scrutinise democracy in the wake of Egypt’s coup

Borhan Osman •

A number of rallies in support of Egypt’s ousted president, Muhammad Mursi, and in solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood recently brought together Afghanistan’s diverse Islamist groups in rare unanimity of opinion. Kabul has not yet seen such a mobilisation, and with such diverse participation, caused by a political issue in another country. Pro- and anti-government Islamist […]

Political Landscape Read more

Déjà Vu All Over Again: The Af-Pak roller coaster and a possible new Taleban office

Borhan Osman •

Tomorrow, 26 August, President Hamed Karzai is visiting Islamabad; it will be the first visit since February 2012. At the top of the agenda: peace talks – again. In the lead-up to this visit, officials of the two countries spoke of alternatives to the Taleban’s Qatar office. AAN’s Borhan Osman (with input by Thomas Ruttig) […]

War and Peace Read more

Poetry in Motion: Love, war and politics on trucks

Borhan Osman •

I am chasing you like a drone You have become al Qaida; there’s no trace of you Trucks painted in vivid colours and lettered with poems like the one above, which has borrowed the terms of war to describe love, are part of the “cultural landscape” along the dusty roads of Afghanistan, especially the south […]

Context and Culture Read more

The Road to Ghazni: Bombs, battles and blockades

Borhan Osman •

Step outside Kabul, about 30 miles away, and the road to Ghazni starts to bring you the sense of the battlefield. You pass by fierce skirmishes, exploding bombs, burning oil tankers, gun-toting Afghan forces and convoys of US forces that look hostile to anyone Afghan. Some drivers have gotten so used to the constant violence […]

War and Peace Read more

Who Played Havoc with the Qatar Talks? Five possible scenarios to explain the mess

Borhan Osman • Kate Clark •

The bizarre turn of events following the opening of the Taleban office in Doha has led many to wonder whether the affair could have been deliberately sabotaged. Was it possible it had just been badly handled? So rapidly did the optimism about potential talks give way to bewilderment at their suspension, and the Taleban’s re-appearance […]

War and Peace Read more

The EVAW law – an Evil Law? The backlash at Kabul University

Borhan Osman •

Many worried that debating the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) law in parliament might backfire. In the end, the Speaker cut short the discussion and sent it into the shadows of a parliamentary committee for further discussion. However, even such a brief debate brought he existence of the law to the public’s attention and […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Adding the Ballot to the Bullet? Hezb-e Islami in transition

Borhan Osman •

In a dramatic change of mind, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar recently announced that his Hezb-e Islami will participate in next year’s election to ‘defeat the enemy’ in the political arena, too. With this statement, he is relinquishing his original position that foreign troops must leave the country prior to any political accommodation between his party and the […]

Political Landscape Read more

The Making of Another ‘Uprising’: The ALP in Panjwayi

Borhan Osman •

The US government and US media are upbeat about a new ‘uprising’ against the Taleban in its heartland in Kandahar. Such a revolt in Panjwayi district would be of particular importance given the area’s status as the birthplace of the Taleban leadership. AAN’s Borhan Osman who has travelled to the area finds, however, that what […]

War and Peace Read more

Is the Taleban Insurgency a Holy or an Unholy War? An Afghan-Pakistani ulema debate

Borhan Osman •

The Pakistani ulema were never particularly vocal supporters of the current Taleban’s insurgency in Afghanistan until the Afghan government approached them to talk about peace. Or at least their support had not been expressed publicly before. Then one Pakistani mulla, Maulana Tahir Ashrafi, head of the Pakistan Ulema Council, made such controversial remarks about suicide […]

War and Peace Read more

Afghanistan’s vain attempts at wooing Pakistani Islamists for peace

Borhan Osman •

The recent assertion by Pakistan’s chief cleric, Tahir Ashrafi, about the permissibility of Taleban’s suicide attacks was completely the opposite of what Afghanistan had been looking for. Indeed, Kabul has had difficulties in mobilising religious leaders to speak against suicide attacks. A long sought conference of ulama from Afghanistan and Pakistan aimed at delegitimising militancy […]

Regional Relations Read more

Subscribe to receive updates from the Afghanistan Analysts Network

Sign up