Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Martine van Bijlert

The Kabul Bank Tribunal: an exercise in containment

Martine van Bijlert •

The Kabul Bank crisis is complicated and multi-layered. Its tentacles reached into almost all centres of power and threatened to embarrass not just the architects of the scam, but practically everybody involved: businessmen, politicians, senior government officials, the various Presidential campaign teams, Parliamentarians, Central Bank staff, international advisers, donors – the list is long. Since […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

Trying to Control the Uncontrolled: the NSC’s decision on Wardak

Martine van Bijlert •

Months of reported abuses in Wardak by armed groups and individuals apparently linked to a US Special Operations base, and the failure of ISAF to take responsibility or to adequately respond, has led the National Security Council to announce that all US Special Operations Forces are to be removed from Wardak within two weeks. Although […]

War and Peace Read more

The Rise and Fall of the Kabul Bank – making the details public

Martine van Bijlert •

Much has been written about the Kabul Bank crisis. A series of confidential investigations and audits have described the legal violations and technical processes involved in the bank management’s fraudulent operations, and most of these reports were fairly widely leaked. Media appearances by the various protagonists and representatives of government institutions involved in the follow-up […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

The Asia Foundation’s 2012 survey and how to read opinion polls in Afghanistan

Martine van Bijlert •

On 14 November the Asia Foundation released its 2012 ‘Survey of the Afghan People’, based on data collected by ACSOR (Afghan Center for Socio-Economic Research), a Kabul-based research organisation that has done the data collection for almost all large publicly released opinion polls. It is the eighth survey in its kind: the first was released […]

Political Landscape Read more

External publication: Social protection in Afghanistan: Between conflict, transition and international aid

Martine van Bijlert •

In: “The cup, the gun and the crescent Social welfare and civil unrest in Muslim societies”; Sara Ashencaen Crabtree, Jonathan Parker & Azlinda Azman (eds.), Whiting & Birch Publication date: November 2012

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Social protection in Afghanistan: Between conflict, transition and international aid

Martine van Bijlert •

“Social Protection in Afghanistan: Between conflict, transition and international aid” by Martine van Bijlert In: The Cup, The Gun and The Crescent. Social welfare and civil unrest in Muslim societies; Sara Ashencaen Crabtree, Jonathan Parker & Azlinda Azman (eds.), Whiting & Birch Publication date: November 2012

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Social Protection in Afghanistan: Between Conflict, Traditions and International Aid

Martine van Bijlert •

Martine van Bijlert, in: “The Cup, The Gun and The Crescent: Social welfare and civil unrest in Muslim societies”, edited by Sarah Ashencaen Crabtree, Jonathan Parker & Azlinda Azman; Bournemouth University Press (forthcoming) Martine van Bijlert discusses the formal and informal social protection structures in Afghanistan. Formal programmes are modest, despite the high levels of […]

External publications Read more

The ICG Report and the Government’s Search for a New Narrative

Martine van Bijlert •

A report by the International Crisis Group on Afghanistan’s upcoming transition has triggered a hostile response from the Afghan government. The ICG report is described as an attempt to weaken Afghanistan’s resolve in the face of the US-Afghan Strategic Partnership negotiations and as a means to pave the way for foreign interference in the upcoming […]

International Engagement Read more

The Tokyo Conference and the Decade of Déjà Vu

Martine van Bijlert •

Another conference, another set of promises, proposals and agreements. Tomorrow, representatives over 70 countries, international organisations and the Afghan government will meet in Tokyo to discuss aid post-2014. Anyone feeling confused about yet another conference with its claims of impact and importance will find AAN’s new e-book (Snapshots of an Intervention: The Unlearned Lessons of […]

International Engagement Read more

‘Spring Offensive’ and the War of Perceptions

Martine van Bijlert •

It is not easy to strike the right balance when discussing yesterday’s attacks by the Taleban in Kabul and three provinces. The international media, particularly those without correspondents on the ground, have talked up the intensity and relevance of the attacks in eye-catching headlines, referring to them as a ‘Taleban offensive’, ‘attack on the diplomatic […]

War and Peace Read more

The Quran burnings and the different faces of restraint

Martine van Bijlert •

The fourth day of protests has ended with a mixed picture: on one hand relief over what seemed to have been a sense of restraint in many areas, on the other hand sadness and resignation over the reports of violence and deaths coming from a handful of places. All in all, it was not as […]

Political Landscape Read more

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