The Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) is a non-profit, independent policy research organisation. It aims to bring together the knowledge, experience and drive of a large number of experts to better inform policy and to increase the understanding of Afghan realities. It is driven by engagement and curiosity and is committed to producing independent, high quality and research-based analysis on developments in Afghanistan. http://www.aan-afghanistan.org I have just returned home after three weeks in Afghanistan doing research in Kabul and Kandahar on a forthcoming report for AAN on local defence forces. Im just starting to work on the paper, but perhaps a few quick facts that I came across during my research might be of interest to readers of the AAN blog already now. By Mathieu Lefevre(*) http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=700 http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=700 Tue, 9 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT info@afghanisthan-analysts.net (The Afghanistan Analysts Network) Viewing Pakistan in a historical and geostrategic context, this paper by eminent Pakistan and India expert Karl Fischer highlights those aspects of the new United States strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan (formerly termed the AfPak Strategy) that are more relevant for Pakistan and shows predominant Pakistani reactions to these issues. The selection is limited to the responses of government and political leaders, representatives of the military as well as some prominent members of the media and academia. The material also offers some basic conclusions and policy recommendations. http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=698 http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=698 Tue, 9 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT info@afghanisthan-analysts.net (The Afghanistan Analysts Network) Inactive foreign troops and gross human rights violations with an ethnic bias have made the population of Badghis poor, fed up and completely alienated from the government, an ideal breeding ground for the Taleban and an eight-fold increase of poppy cultivation. A rare glimpse into one of the most neglected provinces of Afghanistan. By Ṃnica Bernabé(*) http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=697 http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=697 Sun, 7 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT info@afghanisthan-analysts.net (The Afghanistan Analysts Network) Since the Talebans quick resurgence after the fall of their regime in 2001, their insurgency often is described with the term Neo-Taleban. Here it is argued, though, that there was more continuity than change from the pre-9/11 to the post-9/11 Taleban movement. The real neo-Taleban might emerge now after the arrest of accommodation-inclined Taleban leaders by Pakistans authorities. The main feature of these neo-Taleban would be that they are tools in the hands of the ISI. http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=696 http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=696 Fri, 5 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT thomas@afghanisthan-analysts.net (Thomas Ruttig) In Afghanistan, some feel insulted when they are called a warlord. Some rather call them, euphemistically, local power brokers or strongmen. The author of this blog thinks that the term still is useful - but that it should not be used randomly and proposes a sharper definition. By Antonio Giustozzi. This blog first appeared on the AfPak Channel blog of Foreign Policy magazine on 25 February 2010 (link below). http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=694 http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=694 Thu, 4 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT info@afghanisthan-analysts.net (The Afghanistan Analysts Network) While the world is discussing strategies to exit Afghanistan, the crisis in neighbouring Pakistan is deepening. What the silent majority of Pakistanis voted for in the elections of February 2008 a secular democracy is proving elusive. The army has since reemerged as a major political actor and the Taleban are gaining ground. This paper by Ann Wilkens, former Swedish Ambassador to Pakistan and Afghanistan (2003-07), current President, Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) and member of the AAN Advisory Board, addresses this deficit in attention. http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=691 http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=691 Thu, 4 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT info@afghanisthan-analysts.net (The Afghanistan Analysts Network) On Monday, the six-months deadline for a re-registration of Afghanistans 110 registered political parties is ending. This is based on requirements of the new political parties law passed by the parliament in June 2009 already. After some back and forth between the executive and the legislative which led to some amendments in detail, the President signed it on 6 September 2009 and it was gazetted three days later, on 9 September. This is when the deadline for re-registration came into force. http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=690 http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=690 Thu, 4 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT thomas@afghanisthan-analysts.net (Thomas Ruttig) Pakistan is establishing a new Taleban leadership that is more aggressive, less inclined to talk and primarily follows the instructions of its ISI minders, says Christoph Reuter(1). With this aim, it manipulates different leaders of militant groups, using targeted arrests and invitations into guesthouses. http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=689 http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=689 Tue, 2 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT info@afghanisthan-analysts.net (The Afghanistan Analysts Network) Arresting the former deputy ‚prime minister of the Taleban apparently needed less than rocket science. Pakistani intelligence sources also confirm that the arrests of Maulawi Kabir and Mulla Baradar foremost serve Pakistani interests, both with regard to urgently needed financial resources and possibly to the strengthening of an old ally, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. A guest blog by Willi Germund(1) http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=688 http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=688 Tue, 2 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT info@afghanisthan-analysts.net (The Afghanistan Analysts Network) Hello, I am calling from Kandahar. I got your number from a friend. One of my employees, a driver, was arrested a month ago. ISAF forces came to my house at night and took three people away. They also almost took me. They are still holding the driver, the ICRC says he is in Bagram. His family is very worried. Is there anything you can do? - That was yesterday, just as I was reading the paper by Open Society Institute and The Liaison Office on the impact of night raids. That night I dreamt of Special Forces entering houses (until the earthquake woke me). http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=683 http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=683 Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT martine@afghanisthan-analysts.net (Martine van Bijlert) In fact, we [the Soviet Union] were the first to defend Western civilization against the attacks of Muslim fanatics. No one thanked us. This is only one of the core sentences in an op-ed I almost had missed. It was co-authored by ex-General Boris Gromov, now the governor of the Moscow region who commanded the 40th Soviet Army in Afghanistan up to its withdrawal in February 1989. and Dmitry Rogozin who is Russias current ambassador to NATO and was published in the New York Times on 12 January this year. http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=682 http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=682 Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT info@afghanisthan-analysts.net (The Afghanistan Analysts Network) Just got back from a short visit to Zabul, the largely forgotten province that is surrounded by Kandahar, Uruzgan, Ghazni, Paktia and Pakistani Baluchistan. I was curious how things had developed since my last visit three years ago. The governor had been changed and so had the Taliban governor some provincial department heads had been moved around, while others seemed stuck to their seats. The Stryker Brigade had come and gone. Some of the elders had been detained at Bagram Airfield, others had been killed. http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=672 http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=672 Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT martine@afghanisthan-analysts.net (Martine van Bijlert) It was around 6.30 this morning when we were woken up by a violent blast. As it turned out, it was another of the complex (or multiple) attacks using suicide bombers and commandos armed with small arms for which the Taleban have regularly claimed responsibility. The main targets seem to have been two guesthouses in Shahr-e Nau used by Indian aid workers, next to the Safi Landmark hotel and City Centre, a shopping mall, both in one building. This big building in which some Indian and Australian embassy staff live - also is heavily damaged. At least 15 people were killed, amongst them apparently at least four Indians. At 1 pm Kabul time, shots still could be heard from the area. It is particularly remarkable that the attack happened on Prophet Muhammads birthday, or Maulud-e Sharif, a religious holiday and mainly claimed Afghan (Muslim) casualties. http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=671 http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=671 Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT thomas@afghanisthan-analysts.net (Thomas Ruttig) He has been spotted in Marja (Helmand, Southern Afghanistan). The only problem is: Marja does not exist. Because it is not on Google Earth. And Operation Moshtarak in Helmand is a fake. But let me start from the beginning. http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=668 http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=668 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT thomas@afghanisthan-analysts.net (Thomas Ruttig) President Karzai has changed the electoral law, driven by anger over an in his eyes over-interfering ECC, the desire to have a pliable parliament and a sense that it his right as a president to be in charge. The substantive changes in the electoral law have, as a result, focused on roughly four areas: gaining greater control over the main exclusion mechanisms (the ECC and the DIAG secretariat), minimizing international interference, limiting the grounds for criticising the IEC, and raising the bar for conditions on candidates. http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=667 http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=667 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT martine@afghanisthan-analysts.net (Martine van Bijlert)