Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Political landscape

Political landscape

What Went Wrong: The 2021 collapse of Afghan National Security Forces

Timor Sharan •

On 15 August 2021, the Afghan government and large parts of the state, primarily the army and police, came tumbling down like a house of cards, leaving serious questions about the sudden melting away of Afghanistan’s security forces. Many factors contributed to the collapse of the security forces, including widespread corruption, lack of a combat […]

War and Peace Read more

How Can a Bird Fly On Only One Wing? Afghan women speak about life under the Islamic Emirate

Roxanna Shapour • Rama Mirzada •

Fifteen months after the Taleban returned to power, Afghan women have seen their country and their lives dramatically alter, as jobs evaporated, restrictions were announced and families sank into poverty. To better understand how these changes affect the day-to-day lives of women and which changes are at the forefront of their minds, AAN conducted a […]

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Transition to a New Political Order: AAN dossier takes stock of Afghanistan’s momentous year

AAN Team •

It is almost a year since the departure of the last foreign forces from Afghanistan, the collapse of the Republic and its armed forces and the Taleban’s capture of power. It is almost a year, as well, that the Taleban have been ruling Afghanistan. AAN has reported on every step of the way, on the […]

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Preparing for a Post-Departure Afghanistan: Changing political dynamics in the wake of the US troop withdrawal announcement

Ali Yawar Adili •

It is six weeks since US President Joe Biden announced that all international troops would be withdrawn by September and the reverberations of that announcement are still being felt in Afghan political and security circles. The government has been bullish in public, claiming the country is ready for the departure of the foreign forces. Yet, […]

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Kuduz after the fighting on September 28, 2015. Photo Credit: @ehsan_af (Twitter)

Afghanistan’s 2019 Election (22): Glances at Kunduz, Baghlan, Samangan

Obaid Ali •

Kunduz, with its eponymous capital as the centre of one of the seven multi-province regions in Afghanistan (the northeast), had the lowest turnout of all Afghan provinces in the 28 September 2019 presidential election. This applies to  absolute and relative numbers – the latter a meagre 6.4 per cent. Baghlan had the second-lowest numbers. Bad […]

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On 13 October 2016, President Ghani invited all political and opposition leaders to the Palace for consultation, where these leaders signalled their support for the NUG to serve full term, dispensing with their previous call for early election or a traditional loya Jirga. Photo: Arg

The Politics of Opposition: A challenge to the National Unity Government?

Ali Yawar Adili • Lenny Linke •

The failure to implement its own agreement and the continuing rift within the National Unity Government have created an opportunity for political opposition groups across the spectrum to voice their criticism of the government. In the past, Afghanistan’s political opposition has been made up of various councils and fronts, often associated with prominent powerbrokers and […]

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Former NDS Chief Rahmatullah Nabil at a press conference in October 2015 Source: PAJHWOK/Fayaz Omar

Political Cleavages over Pakistan: The NDS chief’s farewell

Thomas Ruttig •

Rahmatullah Nabil, the chief of the country’s intelligence service, submitted his resignation on 10 December 2015. This now leaves two of the Afghan government’s four major security positions filled by acting officials (the second vacancy, for more than a year, is the defence minister’s position). Nabil’s position had presumably become untenable, after he publicly criticised […]

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Beyond Jihad and Traditionalism: Afghanistan’s new generation of Islamic activists

Borhan Osman •

Not all Afghan youth who are politically active and who want to change the status quo fit into the often simplified categories of being either progressive and educated, or uneducated and subversive. There is an often-overlooked segment of Afghanistan’s youth that is educated and engages in modern political debates and activities, while at the same […]

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Pluralistic within Limits, but Not Democratic: Afghanistan’s political landscape before the 2014 elections

Thomas Ruttig •

A look at the broad variety of (potential) presidential candidates seems to indicate some political pluralism. This is an illusion, however. Afghan analysts have recently argued that President Karzai’s political approach has hampered democratic party-based politics. This is only one side of the coin, argues AAN’s senior analyst Thomas Ruttig. He explains that the other […]

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