Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: War

War

Kandahar diary: Caught up in the battle

admin •

BBC News, 26 September 2010 A development worker in Kandahar city vividly describes the challenges of daily life; the killings, the displacement, the operations, and the elusiveness of peace.

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U.S. contractor accused of fraud still winning big Afghan projects

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McClatchy Newspapers, 19 September 2010 The US newspaper reports, that although the Louis Berger Group has been under investigation for ‘intentionally and systematically overbilling American taxpayers’, it was till able to pull in new contracts over 1.4 bn US dollar – so much about Afghan corruption. The article also provides background info about the company.

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The General in His Labyrinth

Thomas Ruttig •

Sorry, the temptation to personalize is too big to drop such a headline. But in fact it’s the system, stupid, argues Thomas Ruttig on The General’s encounter with a rock music magazine. (Hum to the tone of Dr Hook’s famous hit ‘The Cover of the Rolling Stone’, lyrics below.) Great, General, that was really helpful! […]

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Strangers at the Door: Night Raids by International Forces Lose Hearts and Minds of Afghans

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Open Society Institute and The Liaison Office, 23 February 2010 Briefing paper describes how night raids by international forces in Afghanistan are widely associated with abuse and impunity.

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Afghanistan’s outsourced war

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Le Monde diplomatique, 9 February 2010 Marie-Dominique Charlier, a PolAd to the ISAF commander in 2008, describes the growing ability of private military companies ‘to influence military decisions on operational matters’ of ISAF in Afghanistan

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Happy Christmas (But war isn’t over)

Thomas Ruttig •

‘Happy Xmas (War is over)’ – this was John Lennon’s wish in his beautiful 1971 holiday’s single already. The ex-Beatle (killed already 29 years ago) wasn’t referring to Afghanistan, obviously, then. In that year, Afghanistan was experiencing another of a series of drought years which would seriously undermine the country’s apparently so stable monarchy. Kabul […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

How Do Afghans Tick? (in memoriam Bernt Glatzer)

Thomas Ruttig •

The following is the translation of an interview given by late Dr Bernt Glatzer to a Berlin daily newspaper in 2008. He talks about how he himself became involved in Afghanistan, gives his opinion about current events and covers the ethics of ethnologists in war. More than six years ago, the Taleban regime in Afghanistan […]

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Ghosts of Najibullah

Thomas Ruttig •

With President Obama’s release of the new Afghanistan strategy ahead on Tuesday and first details coming out, parts of the puzzle fall into place. As it looks it will be less than the US 40,000 troops desired by Gen Mc Chrystal that will be sent to Afghanistan – probably some 30,000. The gap is to […]

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Surveyed: The Cost of War

Thomas Ruttig •

The war-destroyed Dar-ul-Aman palace in the South of Kabul was the perfect venue for the presentation of the report ‘The Cost of War’ to the Afghan and international public. The palace, designed to house the first Afghan parliament established under King Amanullah (ruled 1919-29), never served its aim. Amanullah was toppled by a mulla-led and […]

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AAN Guest Blog: Some ANSF Maths

AAN Guests •

The following blog is contributed by A FRIEND of AAN in Kabul who – for a good reason which in the media is usually described as that she/he is not authorized to speak about the subject – does not want to see her/his name printed here. After following the recent discussions about number increases in […]

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The Predator War

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The New Yorker, 26 October 2009 Jane Mayer’s hair-raising account of the risks of ‘the “push-button” approach to fighting Al Qaeda’. She gives the figures of people killed during the 41 drone strikes since President Obama’s inauguration (between 326 and 538, ‘many bystanders’), explores the psyche of those remote-operating the drones and the role of […]

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