Thomas Ruttig
Thomas Ruttig studied Afghanistics at Humboldt University, Berlin (Germany). He has spent almost 10 years working in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Thomas worked for the GDR Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the 1980s; for the UN as respectively UNSMA head of office in Kabul, adviser to the Afghan Independent Emergency Loya Jirga Commission, and UNAMA head of office in Islamabad and Gardez (2000-2003); as the Deputy to the EU Special Representative for Afghanistan (2003-2004); and Political Adviser to the German Embassy in Kabul (2004-2006).
In 2006-2008 he was a Visiting Fellow at the German think-tank Stiftung Wissenschaft and Politik (SWP). From 2008 he has been working as an author and independent political analyst.
Thomas speaks Pashto and Dari.
Selected publications include:
Loya Paktia's Insurgency: The Haqqani Network as an Autonomous Entity in the Taliban Universe.
Thomas Ruttig, In: Antonio Giustozzi (ed.) Decoding the New Taliban. Insights from the Afghan Field. Colombia: Hurst, 2009
Bei Ausstieg Lebensgefahr: Herausforderungen an den neuen US-Präsidenten in Afghanistan
KAS-Auslandsinformationen 12/2008, pp. 69-82
Islamists, Leftists – and a Void in the Center. Afghanistan's Political Parties and where they come from (1902-2006)
Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Kabul/Berlin 2006
Afghanistan: Institutionen ohne Demokratie. Strukturelle Schwächen des Staatsaufbaus in Afghanistan und Ansätze für eine politische Stabilisierung
SWP Research Paper 2008/S 17
Die Taleban nach Mulla Dadullah. Ihre Strukturen, ihr Programm - und ob man mit ihnen reden kann
SWP-Aktuell 2007/A 31
The 2004 Afghan Presidential Elections and Challenges for the Forthcoming Parliamentary Elections
In: Moonis Ahmad (Ed.), The Challenge of Rebuilding Afghanistan, Program on Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution, Department of International Relations, University of Karachi and The Hanns Seidel Foundation, Islamabad, 2005, pp. 61-71
Zur Bedeutung der bürgerlichen Oppositionsbewegung der 50er Jahre unseres Jahrhunderts für die Formierung progressiver politischer Kräfte in Afghanistan
Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Sektion Asienwissenschaften, 1985