WERKSTATT | SAMMLUNG | KOMPOSITION

14-12-2009

Latest AAN Blogs

As the country is waiting for the new Cabinet, AAN continues to comment on the main developments. Please turn to our website for the latest blogs:

Parliament getting ready for the new Cabinet

Several weeks have passed since the President's inauguration on 19 November and the waiting is now for the announcement of the new Cabinet - an event that as usual has been imminent for quite a while. read more »

Finishing the unfinished election (1): Helmand, Khost and Farah

As the final provincial council results are being finally and gradually released, an early analysis of the figures shows that the fraud in the provi ncial council election has, unsurpisingly, been largely left untouched. read more »

Finishing the unfinished election (2): Panjshir and Kapisa

Not all provinces show signs of a very uneven rate of disqualification between the presidential en provincial council elections, like we saw in Helmand, Khost or Farah. Take for instance Panjshir. read more »

Afghanistan's democrats; from undergroun d to marginalisation

In the spring of 2000 some 25 Afghan women and men secretly gathered in a private house in western Kabul. Many of them had never met each other before. Therefore, they were divided in two separate groups that sat in different rooms. These courageous people belonged to a dozen or so political parties and groups that had formed in the underground and now waited for foreign visitors. read more »

Small stories from the province (1): A very high-ranking dog

"Did you hear about the Australian dog that was lost?" We had been discussing everything from the latest tribal gossip to the final announce ment of the provincial council and the recent local appointments. And now, as we are packing up to go, there was apparently still a story of a dog. read more »

How to respond to a flawed election

In the run-up to Afghanistan's second presidential election, voter enthusiasm was muted by the widespread perception that the outcome would be determined not by votes, but by international decision-making, political backroom deals and fraud. The events during and after polling only confirmed this view: read more »

NDS detention - not just a Canadian problem

Former diplomat to Kabul, Richard Colvin, caused quite a stir in Canadian politics with his testimony to a parliamentary committee on the Afghan mission on 18 November 2009. Colvin described how he repeatedly alerted his superiors to the fact that prisoners handed over to the NDS (National Directorate of Security) were likely to face torture and abuse. read more »

Militia Sightings

Some see 'hopes of a large-scale tribal rebellion against the Taliban ' But how spontaneously did the new militias really emerge? Here are some reports on the new militias found in the international media: read more »

With best regards, the Afghanistan Analysts Network