Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Kabul

Kabul

War Doves: The Afghan sport of pigeon flying

Fabrizio Foschini •

It is a familiar sight in Kabul’s springtime skies: pigeons flying in thick flocks, circling and dipping, reacting to a man on a rooftop waving a stick. Kaftar bazi or the Play of Pigeons is an Afghan national sport – one of the calmer sort. This doesn’t mean it isn’t highly competitive. AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini […]

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After the ‘operational pause’: How big is the insurgents’ 2013 spring offensive?

Thomas Ruttig •

With two high-profile attacks in Kabul and one in Jalalabad in the two last weeks, Afghanistan’s insurgents seem to have made true on their promise of a ‘monumental’ spring offensive. In terms of propaganda, the three attacks were successful: the media in Afghanistan and abroad gave the incidents wide coverage. AAN Co-Director Thomas Ruttig has […]

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About Discrimination and Internet Access: Another student protest in Kabul

Niamatullah Ibrahimi •

The 24 May complex Taleban attack in the heart of Kabul and, to a lesser extent, the demonstration of Kabul University students against the Law for the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW law) overshadowed another student protest in the Afghan capital. For eight days ending yesterday, some 80 students mostly of the Social Science […]

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Inspiration in Kabul: Nancy Dupree and the Opening of the Afghanistan Centre

Kate Clark •

The Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University (ACKU) has been officially opened. A beautiful, airy building with a central green courtyard, it has space for both researchers and the Centre’s collection of 80,000 (and increasing) documents collected over the last three decades. The driving force behind the project is Nancy Hatch Dupree who said that ‘for […]

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Sal-e Naw Mubarak! Neway kal-mu mubarak!

Kate Clark •

AAN would like to wish all our beloved readers and contributors a peaceful and happy new year. The signs of spring are all about us here in Kabul – blossom on the almond trees, cats a-courting and sunshine, warm and pleasant, is mixed with thunder showers. The mud underfoot is drying to dust in the […]

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In Kabul’s ‘Car Guantánamo,’ Autos Languish and Trust Dies

admin •

New York Times, 17 February 2013 Just a brilliant reportage: ‘Residents here call it Car Guantánamo. Behind these walls are thousands of cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles and even bicycles, lined up in vehicular purgatory after falling afoul of the Kabul traffic police. Things that have landed cars in the slammer: illegal left turns, parking violations, […]

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Welcome to Kabul: Here are some brass knuckles

admin •

Global Post, 6 February 2013 A bit over-dramatised headline, but good report about a part of Kabul that is ‘slipping into lawlessness’, highlighting not a new, bit largely overlooked problem and concentrates on a multi-layered neighbourhood, the Company area..

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Watching ‘The Patience Stone’ in Kabul

admin •

Afghanistan Analysis blog, 28 January 2013 Young Afghans watch the movie after a novel by Atiq Rahimi (of ‘Earth and Ashes’ fame) and discuss what can/should be shown in movies and what not, with interesting insight from a young mulla.

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The Growth of Neo-radicalism: Neo-Salafism and Sectarianism

Abbas Daiyar •

There are indications about the involvement of neo-radical – both neo-Salafist and Iranian-inspired Shia – groups in the Ashura clashes that occurred last November at Kabul University. AAN has recently reported about the events. In a follow-up article, our guest blogger Abbas Daiyar(*) argues that an increase of the activities comes in the wake of […]

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Kabul und die Sicherheitslücken

Other AAN •

Deutsche Welle (online), 22 January 2013 Article on the Taleban’s recent attack on the Traffic Police HQ in Kabul, with extensive quotes from AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, warning not to ‘over-interpret such operations’ as a ‘deterioration of the security situation’ which has peaks and does not develop linearly. Such attacks also ‘have more propagandistic than military […]

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Striking at Kabul, in 2013: the attack on the traffic police HQ

Fabrizio Foschini •

Just before dawn, the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) premises on the Deh Mazang roundabout in West Kabul came under attack. After a massive car bomb detonated in front of the building, an insurgent commando of five men tried to enter the traffic police headquarters. Two of them eventually made their way inside, and holed […]

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Despite a Whiff of Unpleasant Exaggeration, a City’s Pollution Is Real

admin •

New York Times, 21 January 2013 A report about pollution and air quality in Kabul, with the Kabul mayor Mohammad Yunus Nawandish saying: ‘Kabul air is not as polluted with human feces as they say.’

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