Posts tagged: UK

AAN Co-Director gives evidence on UK strategy towards Afghanistan to the British parliament

Our co-director, Kate Clark, was asked to give testimony to the International Relations and Defence Committee of the UK House of Lord’s (the British parliament’s unelected second chamber). It has launched an inquiry aimed at exploring the UK’s diplomatic, military and aid strategy for Afghanistan, especially in the light of the Doha talks. The committee […]

22 Sep 2020

Thematic Dossier VII: Detentions in Afghanistan – Bagram, Transfer and Torture

Kate Clark •

One of the most controversial aspects of the 2001 intervention has ended: the United States’ detention on Afghan soil of men accused of involvement in the insurgency. At its peak, the US military detention facility on Bagram airbase held more than 3000 detainees. In the early years, there had also been a number of CIA […]

20 Dec 2014

The ‘Other Guantanamo’ (11): More transfers, a court’s scrutiny and possible redress

Kate Clark •

The United States military spokesman has confirmed to AAN that another detainee has left the detention facility on Bagram Airbase, a ‘German-Moroccan’, Muhammad Abdullawi. A Russian detainee, named by the US military as Irek Hamidullan, has also been flown out – to the US to appear in a federal court on terrorism charges; the first […]

28 Nov 2014

After 12 years, £390bn, and countless dead, we leave poverty, fraud – and the Taliban in Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig •

The Independent, 12 January 2014 The author in the leading British daily quotes extensively from what he calls “a damning study of the outcome of 12 years of international intervention in Afghanistan by Thomas Ruttig of the Afghanistan Analysts Network in Kabul” that underscroes “that US and British military [and may i add – political] […]

12 Jan 2014

Pakistan ‘will allow Afghan officials to meet key Taliban leader’

AAN Team •

The Telegraph, 30 October 2013 In an article on the trilateral Afghan-Pakistani-UK meeting in London, AAN’s Kate Clark is quoted: “However, after three years in captivity it is unclear whether Mullah Baradar still retains influence over the movement and whether his allegiances may have shifted, according to a recent analysis by Kate Clark of the […]

30 Oct 2013

Safar ba London: Afghan youths on the move

Assunta Nicolini •

In the last decade, Afghanistan has produced the largest number of asylum seekers in Europe. Many of them are unaccompanied minors. For her doctoral studies, AAN guest author Assunta Nicolini carried out an in-depth study among Afghans migrating to the UK, summarizing some of her findings for this dispatch. She looks at why families decide […]

6 Aug 2013

Talking to the Taliban: A British perspective

Kate Clark •

The deputy commander of ISAF and most senior British soldier in Afghanistan, General Nick Carter, has told The Guardian that, ‘the west should have tried talking to the Taliban a decade ago, after they had just been toppled from power’. AAN Senior Analyst, Kate Clark, who witnessed many of the events of that time, not […]

3 Jul 2013

Ulama conference aimed at outlawing suicide attacks: victim of a blame game (amended)

Borhan Osman •

As the leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Britain meet in London today to discuss the peace process, AAN looks at an earlier plan to present a common Pakistan/Afghan face against the Taleban over the issue of suicide attacks. In November, Islamabad and Kabul announced they would be holding an ulama conference in January in which […]

4 Feb 2013

Transfers and Torture: The British Army halts transfers of detainees to the NDS

Sari Kouvo •

President Karzai has warned British forces that they must hand detainees over and may not hold any detainees themselves. The warning follows a British government decision to stop all transfers after a former UK detainee, Sardar Mohammed, challenged their legality, given the risk of torture by the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS). Sardar Mohammed […]

11 Dec 2012