Blogs / AAN members
Campaign Trail 7: The young candidates' challenges
Almost one fifth of the candidates running for Kabul in the upcoming parliamentary election are young, between 25 (the minimum age required by the law to run) and 35 years old. The proportion of young candidates varies, but provinces with big urban centres like Balkh, Nangrahar and Herat tend to have more. Some of these young Afghans appear to be genuine idealists. Others just seem to be using the election to promote themselves for personal ambition. AAN political researcher Gran Hewad has met dozens of these young men and women and has been looking at their political agendas. read more »
posted: 30-08-2010 / by: Gran Hewad
Campaing Trail (4): Candidates and Campaigning
At a time when two candidates for parliamentary elections have been killed, three kidnapped, at least ten issued with death threats and 48 excluded from the final list, the surviving candidates are campaigning hard. This is often a multi-goal struggle: to become a representative of the people, to get publicized via their candidacy, to be posting banners and posters on the walls, to pursue competition between cousins, to be seen on TV, to follow up a family tradition and respect their fathers’ souls and so on and so forth. AAN is interviewing candidates – about three dozen so far – from across the country and our political researcher, Gran Hewad, has been getting his teeth into their various campaign strategies. read more »
posted: 16-08-2010 / by: Gran Hewad
Justice in Afghanistan: the Insect and the Elephant
AAN political researcher Gran Hewad attended this week's opening event of the 'National Campaign on Supporting Justice in Afghanistan'. He visited the tents, watched the audience and reminisces about the war and the chances of establishing justice. read more »
posted: 02-08-2010 / by: Gran Hewad
The Alchemy of Vetting
The vetting process on parliamentary candidates that was concluded on July 6 has resulted in the exclusion of 36 candidates for alleged links with armed groups, and a remarkable amount of confusion and doubt among those who tried to follow the process closely. There has been a consistent and intentional lack of transparency on where and how decisions were made, and many of the excluded candidates seem to have been randomly picked in an attempt to bolster numbers. Vetting for armed groups has been controversial in all elections, but this looks like it may well have been the worst vetting process so far. AAN researchers Fabrizio Foschini and Gran Hewad try to give a fairly precise account of what has become a very murky process indeed. read more »
posted: 16-07-2010 / by: Fabrizio Foschini & Gran Hewad
Latest rumours about still open ministries
As AAN has reported recently, there are still 13 vacancies in the Afghan cabinet. For the next days, at least some proposals from the President are expected by the parliament. The following list of possibly included candidates has been published by an Afghan website, claiming that it is based on ‘reliable reports from the presidential palace’. Although AAN cannot guarantee the correctness of this information, we find it interesting enough to share it with our readers. The information has been edited by Thomas Ruttig and Gran Hewad, with the help of Khabarha-ye Sar-e Chowk (1). read more »
posted: 22-06-2010 / by: Gran Hewad and Thomas Ruttig
On Commander Razeq again
AAN member JOANNA NATHAN draws attention to the recent "mistaken" killing of civilians by Kandahar’s border police, which has gone largely unnoticed. read more »
posted: 11-02-2010 / by: Joanna Nathan
A challenge for the next head of UNAMA
Minna Jarvenpaa, AAN founding member and former head of UNAMA's Analysis and Policy Unit, looks ahead at the challenges faced by Afghanistan's new UN SRSG. read more »
posted: 02-02-2010 / by: Minna Jarvenpaa
Rejection of Ministers: The Legal Basis
The rejection of 17 ministerial appointees by the Afghan lower house, beyond its political implications also represent another episode of the conflict between executive and legislative branches of government, which have increasingly exacerbated over the last six years, writes our member ANTONELLA DELEDDA*. read more »
posted: 06-01-2010 / by: Antonella Deledda
Rays of Hope in Parliament
We continue our reporting and discussion about the next Afghan cabinet – with this blog by our founding member MINNA JARVENPAA. read more »
posted: 05-01-2010 / by: Minna Jarvenpaa
Afghanistan's Most Under-Reported Stories in 2009
Read a compilation of stories that did not really make it into a lot of international headlines in the year 2009 that's just ending - but surely would have deserved it - by our member JOANNA NATHAN*. AAN welcome contributions adding to this shortlist. read more »
posted: 31-12-2009 / by: Joanna Nathan
Until you get the wrong Ahmad…
Recently, I participated in a discussion in Washington where I drew a lot of anger when I said that 'kinetic' house searches still alienate many Afghans - if they don't push them into Taleban ranks. That's not correct, I was told, the US and NATO forces have changed their approach. Here a first-hand story that shows that this malpractice is even spreading, now to Afghanistan's North. Read a contribution by AAN member SUSANNE SCHMEIDL*. read more »
posted: 19-12-2009 / by: Susanne Schmeidl
Francesc Vendrell's Perspectives On Resolving The Postelection Crisis
AAN Advisory Board member and former UN and EU personal/special representative to Afghanistan FRANCESC VENDRELL was interviewed by Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty read more »
posted: 28-09-2009 / by: Francesc Vendrell
AAN Guest Blog: The US's strongman policy in Afghanistan
Here a reply written by our friend and AAN member JOANNA NATHAN* to the New York Times article 'Accused of Drug Ties, Afghan Official Worries U.S.' It was posted first on The AfPak Channel, a blog of the Foreign Policy magazine, on 28 August 2009. read more »
posted: 30-08-2009 / by: Joanna Nathan