Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Democratization

Democratization

A Tahrir Effect in Kabul?

Thomas Ruttig •

Tunis, Cairo. Mass demonstrations in Sanaa, Amman and Algiers, smaller ones in Damascus, Nouakschott and Khartum. Even in Azerbaijan people started protesting after they realized that they had a Mubarak statue in the Azeri-Egyptian Friendship Park in their capital Baku. Many people have been asking: Is this the fifth wave of democratization now? And some […]

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Afghanistan’s new parliament and yet another election (updated)

Fabrizio Foschini •

130 days after the parliamentary vote and 64 days after the final results, not to mention a fair deal of wrangling, the new Wolesi Jirga was inaugurated on Wednesday 26 January. The process had been long and full of hurdles and it is still not completely certain that it is over. As late as Saturday […]

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Handing over Responsibilities in Afghanistan

Martine van Bijlert •

International actors in Afghanistan have long been torn between negative trends, bleak assessments, ambitious strategies and ritualistic reports of hopeful developments. Their publics at home are uneasy about the lack of clarity on why their forces are in Afghanistan and what exactly they are achieving. Well-informed diplomats and policymakers are often very pessimistic in private, […]

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What comes after the Transition?

Martine van Bijlert •

This evening I will be debating whether the West has failed in Afghanistan. Earlier this week I was asked to comment on Dutch plans to send a police mission to Kunduz. A week ago I spent two days brainstorming on what a sustainable transition in Afghanistan could look like (transition being code for phased exit). […]

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High Hurdles Race to the Afghan Parliament (updated)

Fabrizio Foschini •

As expected, President Karzai’s announcement of 5-to-12 to delay the Parliament’s inauguration for one month has opened a tough political match. For the last three days, the winning candidates have kept meeting every morning at the Intercontinental hotel. The majority remained committed to proceed with the inauguration on Sunday as well as with their rejection […]

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The President’s Verdict: No Parliament till mid-February

Fabrizio Foschini • Gran Hewad • Thomas Ruttig •

On a remarkably busy winter day, the dreams of many former participant in the past September elections to take up her/his job in Parliament soon were shattered by the President’s ruling to delay the house’s inauguration for another month. Meanwhile, the opposite hopes of a multitude of ‘disappointed candidates’ – i.e. the losers of 18 […]

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Kabul – Tunis

Thomas Ruttig •

The support for elections and the democratic movement in Tunisia promised by the EU and EU member governments seems to concentrate more on process than on content of elections. This sounds familiar from an Afghan angle. AAN’s Senior Analyst Thomas Ruttig was hoping that governments had learned from Afghanistan’s elections disasters – but hears the […]

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Disappearing ink: Afghanistan’s sham democracy

admin •

Harper’s, 1 January 2011 The next one of Matt Aikins’ signature reportages, with an eye-witness report on the (non-) election in Nangrahar province and featuring – amonst others – Zalmay Khalilzad (who cannot remember a lot), Grant Kippen and Janan Mosazai – not fully on the web yet. The magazine’s print issue is already available.

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Election Stalemate and the Revival of Old Fault Lines (updated)

Martine van Bijlert •

To all those who have lost track of what’s going on with the Afghan Parliamentary elections: don’t feel too bad. It has become very difficult to follow, even for those of us who really try – not just in terms of who is pushing for what and what that may result in, but also in […]

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2010 Elections (40): A clear mess in the Land of the Light

Fabrizio Foschini •

Since Saturday it has become possible to do some real number crunching and to get a detailed analysis of the election results, after the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) finally uploaded the polling results per polling station. For weeks, the web page displayed an ‘Internal Server Error’ message, but a phone call to a senior IEC […]

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Report Reveals Political Deals Behind Governors Appointments

admin •

Tolo news, 4 December 2010 This report from Kilid Group exposes the political pressions and deals behind the appointments of several governors by the Independent Directorate of Local Governance.

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2010 Elections (37): What’s in a name? – The Results

Kate Clark •

Just days before September’s elections, AAN made the rash prediction that it would be interesting to see how the brothers, daughters and sons of the rich and famous would do in the polls. We had noticed just how many were running – a brother of Vice-President Khalili, two cousins of President Karzai, a brother of […]

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