Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Afpak

Afpak

The Durand Line and the Fence: How are communities managing with cross-border lives?

Sabawoon Samim •

The Durand Line, which serves as the de facto border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, has never been officially recognised by any Kabul government. It cuts through the heart of Pashtun tribes, who share family ties, religion and traditions. For most of its existence, it made little practical difference to the lives of the people living […]

Regional Relations Read more

Converting the Taliban

admin •

Time, 19 October 2012 Air Force Major, who served as an ‘AfPak Hand’ in Helmand supporting the Afghan Peace and Reconciliation Program, thinks out loud. ‘When things are top, down driven you see a lot of hedging type of behavior: “I’ll send six of my young men this way in case this side wins and […]

Recommended Reads Read more

German Government Reviews Afghan ‘Progress’

Thomas Ruttig •

The online part of German magazine Spiegel comments on the Berlin government’s last update on the situation in Afghanistan* and says that it highlights the ‘open contradictions’ in Afghanistan’s ‘progress’. The magazine quotes German AfPak special envoy Michael Steiner as saying that he wants to give an ‘unvarnished picture’ and that he sees both ‘light […]

International Engagement Read more

Leaving Afghanistan: Where’s The Progress?

Thomas Ruttig •

Along with other Afghanistan watchers, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig has been asked to comment on President Obama’s announcement of a partial troop withdrawal by Foreign Policy Magazine and the FP-related AfPakChannel. Please read a synthesis of both articles here*. The announcement of the troop drawdown by President Obama last night will not change the military balance […]

War and Peace Read more

4 and 9 March 2010: New AAN Publications on Pakistan

AAN • admin •

Two new AAN papers explore the situation in Afghanistan’s neighboring country Pakistan. While the first briefing provides a look back on the AfPak strategy, a term already dropped again barely one year after it was invented, the second briefing deals with the deepening crisis of Pakistan’s young but already elusive secular democracy. The first one, […]

Events Read more

AAN Myth Busters (I): ‘Afghans Always Fought Outsiders’

Thomas Ruttig •

There are a couple of stereotypes about Afghanistan that simply refuse to go away. Instead, they are recycled in some media time and again. But it is particularly annoying when they appear in statements of politicians being elevated into some kind of eternal truth. Today, we start another series that attempts to deconstruct some of […]

Context and Culture Read more

Soon to come: AAN policy paper: The ‘Afpak’ Strategy – Perceptions and Visions in Pakistan

AAN • admin •

Based on earlier experience with the United States, from the very beginning there was an inherent element of doubt amongst political actors and analysts in Pakistan in the sincerity of the new ‘Afpak’ policy says Pakistan expert Karl Fischer who is authoring AAN’s next policy paper. Asked for a summary assessment, many tend to revert […]

Events Read more

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