Posts tagged: Taleban

Are blood feuds on the way out? A special report from Khost province  

Rachel Reid • Sharif Akram •

Blood feuds have long been a feature of Afghan society, claiming countless lives and perpetuating conflict that sometimes spans generations. In recent decades, however, this has shifted, particularly as a young Afghans have begun to question tribal traditions. Original research by AAN’s Sharif Akram in Khost province suggests that this shift in social norms springs […]

11 Nov 2025

The Turbaned Traders: The Taliban take over the urban economy

Sharif Akram •

After the Taliban seized power in 2021, many of the movement’s fighters and supporters migrated from their rural strongholds into Afghanistan’s urban centres to assume control of the government and the cities. This marked a major shift following two decades of insurgency, when the Taliban and many of their supporters were unable to access urban […]

14 Oct 2025

The Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Law, translated into English

John Butt •

The Islamic Emirate’s supreme leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, has issued a new law laying out the duties, powers and punishments available to the enforcers of the Ministry for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice. The law also specifies numerous acts and particular behaviour that the Emirate deems either obligatory or forbidden for Afghan citizens. Today, AAN has published […]

31 Aug 2024

How The Emirate Wants to be Perceived: A closer look at the Accountability Programme

Martine van Bijlert •

As the third anniversary of its return to power approaches, the Islamic Emirate is presumably readying itself for another round of its Accountability Programme, as it has done in the past two summers. These televised sessions, held by ministers and other senior officials in front of journalists, provide a fairly detailed overview of the Emirate’s […]

9 Jul 2024

Still Under Sanctions, Still Unrecognised: A dossier of reports on Afghanistan, international relations and aid ahead of Doha III

AAN Team •

The United Nations is due to host a third meeting of Special Envoys on Afghanistan in Doha, on 30 June-1 July 2024, to discuss Afghanistan. It is aimed, according to a UN spokesperson, at increasing “international engagement with Afghanistan in a more coherent, coordinated and structured manner.” The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has said […]

9 Jun 2024

The Daily Hustle: The trials and tribulations of being a street vendor in Kabul

Sayed Asadullah Sadat • Roxanna Shapour •

For anyone who has spent any time in Kabul, handcart sellers and street vendors are a familiar sight, as they walk around the city hawking their wares from dusk to dawn trying to eke out a meagre living for their families. Street vendors say that more and more young Afghans have been joining their ranks, […]

14 Apr 2024

From Doha to Doha: The contest over a UN Special Envoy lingers as discussions and disagreements drag on

Roxanna Shapour •

Afghanistan is back on the world’s agenda. The UN Security Council has met behind closed doors to hear about the recently held United Nations-convened meeting of Special Envoys on Afghanistan in Doha. The current rulers of Afghanistan, the Islamic Emirate, decided not to attend the Doha gathering and are adamantly against the planned appointment of […]

1 Mar 2024

The Contest for a Special Envoy: Will the meeting in Doha yield a shift in the world’s engagement with the Emirate? 

Roxanna Shapour •

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will host a second meeting of Special Envoys on Afghanistan in the capital of Qatar, Doha, on 18-19 February 2024. Unlike the last gathering in May 2023, the Emirate has also been invited, although it has not yet confirmed that it will send a delegation. The two-day meeting is expected […]

17 Feb 2024

From policing in Afghanistan to fleeing to Iran: a woman’s journey

Rukhshana, 23 January 2024 A heart-gripping AAN-style ‘daily hustle’ story, from another source, exiled Afghan women’s news platform Rukhshana, telling the gripping story of Badam Gul who went – before August 2021 – from being a fram worker together with her husband to, after his death, to join the women’s police in Balkh, driving taxi […]

23 Jan 2024

Human Rights Situation in Afghanistan: October – December 2023 Update

UNAMA, 22 January 2024 This is another update on Afghanistan’s human rights situation under the Taleban. UNAMA’s main findings include: The report also looks at “targeted attacks against Hazaras”, “Forced expulsions of Afghans from Pakistan”, corporal punishment and the Taleban’s application of ‘justice.’

22 Jan 2024

Taliban Rule at 2.5 Years

CTC Sentinel, 20 January 2024 An extensive analysis by American University of Afghanistan’s Haroun Rahimi and USIP’s Andrew H. Watkins in a Westpoint publication, looking at – in the papers two main parts – governance and leadership dynamics, and their “Engaging with the Outside World.” Among their conclusions:

20 Jan 2024

Afghanistan-Untersuchungsausschuss: Die Fragen bleiben

Tageszeitung, 17 January 2024 AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted in this analysis of the work so far of German parliament’s – the Bundestag – enquiry committee about the last phase of German engagement in Afghanistan (in German). The more important of the quotes: Analyst Ruttig recently wrote that the [committee’s] ongoing analysis of the Doha […]

17 Jan 2024