Ali Mohammad Sabawoon Jelena Bjelica In what used to be Afghanistan’s largest poppy-growing province, Helmand, cultivation plummeted by 99 per cent in 2023 following the Islamic Emirate’s ban on the...
Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) Updates
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Afghanistan + 1 more
Survival and Stagnation: The State of the Afghan economy
Author: Kate Clark This paper is an attempt to give an overview of the Afghan economy in light of two new World Bank reports, one on the economy, two years on from the re-establishment of the Islamic...
Croatia + 3 more
Keep on Moving on the Balkan Route: No quarter for Afghan asylum seekers in Croatia and Serbia
The number of Afghan refugees moving along the Balkan Route has remained very high this summer. A large proportion of those taking the long trip to central, western and northern Europe are in their...
Aid Diversion in Afghanistan: Is it time for a candid conversation?
Diversion of aid in Afghanistan is in the news again, this time with allegations by the United States Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), John Sopko, that the Islamic...
Gender Persecution in Afghanistan: Could it come under the ICC’s Afghanistan investigation?
Since their return to power in August 2021, the Taleban have enacted successive laws and orders which apply to women and girls, but not to men and boys. Earlier this month, United Nations experts...
Bans on Women Working, Then and Now: The dilemmas of delivering humanitarian aid during the first and second Islamic Emirates
Kate Clark Anyone who lived in Afghanistan during the first Islamic Emirate will find the current stand-off between the Taleban and NGOs – and now the United Nations – over the issue of women working...
Between Hope and Fear: Rural Afghan women talk about peace and war
Martine van Bijlert • AAN Team As the United States pushes ahead with the rapid and unconditional withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan, an unrelenting Taleban offensive has driven the Afghan...
Peace in the Districts (2): Prospects, approaches and an emphasis on ‘good peace’
Author: S Reza Kazemi Date: 20 December 2019 In this second of two dispatches on what people in ten districts across Afghanistan think about prospects for peace, we hear their views on the...
Peace in the Districts (1): A chasm between high talks and local concerns in Afghanistan
Author: S Reza Kazemi As talks between the United States and the Taleban resume in Doha, we bring you the first of two dispatches on what Afghans in ten districts across the country think about the...
Afghanistan’s 2019 Elections (26): A Q&A about the ongoing election stalemate
Author: Ali Yawar Adili The aftermath of Afghanistan’s 2019 presidential election has now dragged on for 72 days. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has missed two dates for the announcement...
Taleban attacks on Kunduz and Pul-e Khumri: Symbolic operations
Author: Obaid Ali and Thomas Ruttig In the last week Taleban have attacked and entered three provincial centres, Kunduz city, Pul-e Khumri in Baghlan and Farah city, before being pushed back. This...
One Land, Two Rules (8): Delivering public services in insurgency-affected insurgent-controlled Zurmat district
Author: Obaid Ali, Sayed Asadullah Sadat and Christian Bleuer **The Taleban’s military dominance in Zurmat district of Paktia province has allowed them to assert their will over how government and...
Growing out of poverty? Questioning agricultural policy in Afghanistan
Why has Rural Poverty in Afghanistan Got Worse? New AAN paper on post-2001 agricultural policy Author: Adam Pain A new AAN paper seeks to understand why agricultural policy since 2001 has failed to...
One Land, Two Rules (6): Delivering public services in insurgency-affected Nad Ali district of Helmand province
Author: Ali Mohammad Sabawoon In opium-rich Nad Ali district, public service provision is poor. The district is roughly divided between the government and the Taleban and they continue to clash over...
One Land, Two Rules (5): The polio vaccination gap
Author: Jelena Bjelica While researching the delivery of health, education and other services in districts affected by the insurgency, we found that three of our featured districts, in Helmand,...
The End of the Jirga: Strong Words and Not Much Controversy
Author: Kate Clark, Ehsan Qaane and Ali Yawar Adili The Consultative Peace Loya Jirga has ended in Kabul with reports back from the fifty committees of delegates, a speech from President Ghani and a...
AAN Q&A: Between ‘Peace Talks’ and Elections – The 2019 Consultative Peace Loya Jirga
Author: Jelena Bjelica and Thomas Ruttig The four-day Consultative Peace Loya Jirga will commence on Monday, 29 April 2019. This assembly – the sixth loya jirga since 2001 – was convened by President...
“Faint lights twinkling against the dark”: Reportage from the fight against ISKP in Nangrahar
Author: Andrew Quilty. It has been almost four years since the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) captured territory in southern Nangrahar province, where it ruled with extreme brutality, and...
Speculation Abounding: Trying to make sense of the attacks against Shias in Herat city
Author: S Reza Kazemi Herat – the generally safe and prosperous city in western Afghanistan – has seen a series of attacks against Shia religious figures and sites, especially since 2016. Fieldwork...
Afghanistan’s election conundrum: The countdown to the presidential election has kicked off
Author: Ali Yawar Adili. Afghanistan has just concluded its candidate nomination period for the presidential election, which has been moved from the initial date, 20 April, to 20 July 2019. The...