Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Hezb-e Islami

Hezb-e Islami

Members of the anti-Taleban uprising in Alasai - photo by Obaid Ali

Fire in the Pashai Hills: A two-district case study from Kapisa

Obaid Ali •

The Taleban are making further headway towards Kabul. In Kapisa province, 80 kilometers northeast of the capital, they have already established an administrative system governing one of the districts, Alasai. An uprising staged against them last summer by local Jamiati commanders failed,  largely due to lack of support from government forces. At the same time, […]

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Taleban for the Ghani Cabinet? A look at a BBC report

Thomas Ruttig •

It sounded like ‘breaking news’ from Kabul: “The Taliban have been offered posts in the new Afghan government, but have turned them down, the BBC understands. The offer came from new President Ashraf Ghani in a bid to end the insurgency that threatens the recovery of the country.” The BBC report, that came just before […]

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With a Little Help From His Friends: A new biography of Hamed Karzai

Thomas Ruttig •

With only a few days left in the last of Karzai’s two 5-year tenures as head of state (the inauguration of his – still unknown – successor has just been postponed again), Dutch journalist Bette Dam presents the reviewed and updated English version of her biography of the politician who has shaped Afghanistan’s last 14 […]

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Bomb and Ballot: The many strands and tactics of Hezb-e Islami

Thomas Ruttig •

Hezb-e Islami Afghanistan – known as Hezb-e Islami of Gulbuddin, or HIG, in the West – has (almost) declared support for its former chief negotiator with Kabul as a candidate for the 5 April 2014 presidential election. This comes less than a week after it claimed the latest suicide car bomb attack in Kabul that […]

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The End of a Police Chief: Factional rivalries and pre-election power struggles in Kunduz

Lola Cecchinel •

In the beginning, it looked like good news: had Kunduz police chief, Khalil Andarabi, been sacked because he had led Afghan Local Police (ALP) and militia units on a looting rampage against civilians? If this were the case, it would have meant that the bad track record of the Local Police and illegal militias was […]

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Reading Hamid Karzai [and Hezb-e Islami]

AAN •

Foreign Policy, 15 January 2014 Middle East Institute's veteran Afghanistan watcher Marvin Weinbaum gives us an interesting alternative read of the Afghan-US scuffles over the BSA and sees some Hezb-e Islami influence in it.

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Afghan special forces commando defects to insurgents taking weapons with him

AAN Team •

The Telegraph, 21 October 2013 In an article about the defection of an Afghan special forces officer, an AAN analysis is quoted: Although analysts say the ANA and police have done a professional job in quelling terrorist attacks in Kabul, there are signs that Taliban threats are making it difficult to retain security forces. “The ANA […]

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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 […]

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Qatar, Islamabad, Chantilly, Ashgabad: Taleban Talks Season Again? (amended)

Thomas Ruttig •

There has again been movement in the positions marking the landscape of ‘reconciliation’ or, more precisely, of contacts and possible negotiations with the Taleban seem to be moving again. A track II meeting, labelled as ‘intra-Afghan’ talks, was held in France and, before that, the so-called ‘HPC roadmap’ leaked, indicating a more active role of […]

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The Enteqal Seven (7): Opportunities and Concerns in the North

Fabrizio Foschini •

More than one month has passed since Mazar-e Sharif was officially transitioned to the responsibility of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), along with the cities of Herat, Lashkargah and Mehtarlam, the provinces of Bamian and Panjshir, and most of Kabul. In the last of this series of blogs, AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini, with the help […]

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Looking at the Azra Hospital Attack (amended)

Thomas Ruttig • Fabrizio Foschini •

The suicide car-bomb attack that destroyed the civilian hospital of Logar’s eastern-most district Azra on 25 June was terrible even for Afghan standards, with now [amended: 29] registered dead and 53 wounded. Amongst the victims were reportedly 15 children waiting for immunisation as well as five toddlers; the 10-bed maternity ward completely destroyed. But the […]

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When the police goes local; more on the Baghlan ALP

Gran Hewad •

AAN returns to the story of the local police (ALP) of Baghlan and particularly the group of Hezb-e Islami fighters who, supported by the US Special Forces, had reconciled and become local police in summer 2010, and were decimated in a Taleban attack in September. Some locals have accused this group of committing crimes. Others […]

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