Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Martin Gerner

Potholes on ISAF’s Northern Exit: a road trip through the Salang

Martin Gerner •

The news that Pakistan has agreed to re-open supply routes to Afghanistan (1) after a seven month diplomatic standoff between Washington and Islamabad will not only ease the costs for the US and other NATO member states for their withdrawal plans. It also procures northern Afghanistan – namely its road system and population – some […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

Arts in a War Zone: Afghanistan at the Documenta

Martin Gerner •

The Documenta in the German city of Kassel is said to be the world biggest exhibition on contemporary art. Taking place every five years, it is curated each time by a single foreign curator and his team of international agents and aides. This year, for its 13th edition, for the first time Afghanistan is a […]

Context and Culture Read more

Guest Blog: An Afghan Pulitzer Prize Winner

Martin Gerner •

Afghan photojournalist Massoud Hossaini, who has worked for AFP news agency in Kabul since 2007, won the Pulitzer prize in the category of ‘Breaking News Photography’ earlier this week. Hossaini is the first ever Afghan to win the highly prestigious Pulitzer prize, sought after by top journalists worldwide. AAN guest blogger Martin Gerner, a media […]

Context and Culture Read more

Guest Blog: Bonn 2 – Summit of Two Media Realities (with links to official docs)

Martin Gerner •

The Bonn 2 Afghanistan Conference was not only revealing in what was said in the non-binding final statement* of the meeting, but also on how differently journalists worked and observed the event for much of the day. Our guest blogger Martin Gerner, a freelance German author and correspondent who also had organized an international seminar […]

International Engagement Read more

Guest Blog: Where Fiction and Reality Meet: A Decade of Afghan Cinema

Martin Gerner •

‘A country which used to produce a revolution as often as a film’, the International Film Guide said about Afghanistan in 1983, pointing to the dearth of film-making in the country. Post-Taleban, this has changed. The past decade, there has been an explosion in Afghan film making, with the production of mostly independently produced, short […]

Context and Culture Read more

Guest blog: Being a journalist in Uruzgan

Martin Gerner •

Martin Gerner, a freelance correspondent in Afghanistan for German radio and national print media, has been training and mentoring Afghan journalists since 2004. One such training course took place only few weeks ago with a group of journalists from Tirinkot. The then BBC/Pajhwok stringer, Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak, had actively helped to bring the training group […]

War and Peace Read more

Guest Blog: A hard time for Afghanistan’s independent media

Martin Gerner •

The world and Afghanistan ‘celebrated’ World Press Freedom Day a short while ago. The annual international press freedom index, published by Reporters sans frontières (RSF), (*) ranks Afghanistan number 147 of 178 states, better than a number of its neighbouring countries, including Pakistan (151), Uzbekistan (163), China (171), Turkmenistan (176) and Iran (175). Our guest […]

Political Landscape Read more

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