Afghanistan Analysts Network
@aanafgh.bsky.social
Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN): independent Kabul-based policy research organisation. You can find our reports on our website https://t.co/XIL2n9vX8f - reposts does not imply endorsement
Since the Taliban's return, Central Asia is reshaping ties with #Afghanistan despite past fears of extremism. Diplomatic visits and trade deals signal pragmatism over security worries. #CentralAsia #Taliban #Diplomacy #Trade bit.ly/49NDk0r
The Islamic Emirate and the (Other) Authoritarians: Afghanistan-Central Asian relations since 2021
Since the Taliban’s return to power, they have invested heavily in building diplomatic relationships with the five states of Central Asia — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekis...
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November 11, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Since the Taliban's return, Central Asia is reshaping ties with #Afghanistan despite past fears of extremism. Diplomatic visits and trade deals signal pragmatism over security worries. #CentralAsia #Taliban #Diplomacy #Trade bit.ly/49NDk0r
For victims and human-rights groups, the #UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for #Afghanistan is a win after years of advocacy. But the real test will be when case selection, funding and access collide with reality. #HumanRights #UNAMA bit.ly/4qM1kXN
A New Accountability Mechanism for Afghanistan: What the IIM-A can (and cannot) do
The United Nations is creating an Independent Investigative Mechanism for Afghanistan (IIM-A) which will collect evidence of war crimes and other grave violations of international law. The new UN body...
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November 9, 2025 at 8:00 AM
For victims and human-rights groups, the #UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for #Afghanistan is a win after years of advocacy. But the real test will be when case selection, funding and access collide with reality. #HumanRights #UNAMA bit.ly/4qM1kXN
Justice delayed is not justice denied. The #UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for #Afghanistan gives victims a new path to accountability — if it’s backed with real resources & political will, says @EhsanQaane. WarCrimes #HumanRights #UNAMA bit.ly/4qM1kXN
A New Accountability Mechanism for Afghanistan: What the IIM-A can (and cannot) do
The United Nations is creating an Independent Investigative Mechanism for Afghanistan (IIM-A) which will collect evidence of war crimes and other grave violations of international law. The new UN body...
bit.ly
November 7, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Justice delayed is not justice denied. The #UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for #Afghanistan gives victims a new path to accountability — if it’s backed with real resources & political will, says @EhsanQaane. WarCrimes #HumanRights #UNAMA bit.ly/4qM1kXN
For years, Afghan activists demanded a mechanism to preserve evidence of war crimes. The #UN has finally answered that call, but the Independent Investigative Mechanism for #Afghanistan’s work is only beginning. bit.ly/4qM1kXN #WarCrimes #TransitionalJustice
A New Accountability Mechanism for Afghanistan: What the IIM-A can (and cannot) do
The United Nations is creating an Independent Investigative Mechanism for Afghanistan (IIM-A) which will collect evidence of war crimes and other grave violations of international law. The new UN body...
bit.ly
November 6, 2025 at 4:38 AM
For years, Afghan activists demanded a mechanism to preserve evidence of war crimes. The #UN has finally answered that call, but the Independent Investigative Mechanism for #Afghanistan’s work is only beginning. bit.ly/4qM1kXN #WarCrimes #TransitionalJustice
She started as a schoolgirl with a volleyball in Kabul. Now she’s coaching Afghan girls in Toronto. A story of courage, sport, and starting over — one serve at a time. #Afghanistan #WomenInSport 🇦🇫➡️🇨🇦 bit.ly/4nvkEG1
The Daily Hustle: One serve at a time – A volleyball player’s journey from Kabul to Toronto
In Afghanistan, women face challenges in nearly every aspect of their lives. At times, those obstacles seem insurmountable, especially for women who engage in activities outside the home in fields sti...
bit.ly
October 29, 2025 at 8:58 AM
She started as a schoolgirl with a volleyball in Kabul. Now she’s coaching Afghan girls in Toronto. A story of courage, sport, and starting over — one serve at a time. #Afghanistan #WomenInSport 🇦🇫➡️🇨🇦 bit.ly/4nvkEG1
The Daily Hustle hears from an inspiring Afghan sportswoman who shattered barriers! From high school volleyball to the national team, her journey to Canada proves resilience knows no bounds. #EmpowerWomen #Afghanistan #WomenInSports bit.ly/4nvkEG1
The Daily Hustle: One serve at a time – A volleyball player’s journey from Kabul to Toronto
In Afghanistan, women face challenges in nearly every aspect of their lives. At times, those obstacles seem insurmountable, especially for women who engage in activities outside the home in fields sti...
bit.ly
October 27, 2025 at 2:10 PM
The Daily Hustle hears from an inspiring Afghan sportswoman who shattered barriers! From high school volleyball to the national team, her journey to Canada proves resilience knows no bounds. #EmpowerWomen #Afghanistan #WomenInSports bit.ly/4nvkEG1
We’re launching #AANCast, AAN's new podcast. Each week, we bring you AAN’s latest research and reporting — from first-person stories of daily life to expert analysis on Afghanistan’s shifting realities. Listen or our website or subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. bit.ly/3LfhSqO
October 18, 2025 at 8:11 AM
We’re launching #AANCast, AAN's new podcast. Each week, we bring you AAN’s latest research and reporting — from first-person stories of daily life to expert analysis on Afghanistan’s shifting realities. Listen or our website or subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. bit.ly/3LfhSqO
After the Taliban's rise, ex-fighters turned into urban entrepreneurs, flipping the script on their time as insurgents. AAN’s Sharif Akram looks at how they're emerging as a new business elite & embracing a materialistic life they once decried. bit.ly/431IL83 #Afghanistan
The Turbaned Traders: The Taliban take over the urban economy
After the Taliban seized power in 2021, many of the movement’s fighters and supporters migrated from their rural strongholds into Afghanistan’s urban centres to assume control of the government and th...
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October 14, 2025 at 5:44 PM
After the Taliban's rise, ex-fighters turned into urban entrepreneurs, flipping the script on their time as insurgents. AAN’s Sharif Akram looks at how they're emerging as a new business elite & embracing a materialistic life they once decried. bit.ly/431IL83 #Afghanistan
After the poppy ban in #Afghanistan, Muhammad lost his livelihood and the drought destroyed his new crops. Desperation drove him to seek work across the border in #Iran, and tragedy followed. Read his story of in the latest installment of the Daily Hustle. #Migration bit.ly/4795gtT
The Daily Hustle: Muhammad’s last journey – a story of survival, debt and loss
The Islamic Emirate’s ban on poppy cultivation has reshaped life in many areas across Afghanistan, especially in Helmand province, where poppy was fundamental to the economy and to many farmers’ livel...
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October 5, 2025 at 1:58 PM
After the poppy ban in #Afghanistan, Muhammad lost his livelihood and the drought destroyed his new crops. Desperation drove him to seek work across the border in #Iran, and tragedy followed. Read his story of in the latest installment of the Daily Hustle. #Migration bit.ly/4795gtT
Cuts to aid, medicine scarcity, transport challenges, and bans on female education are converging into a public health disaster for mothers in #Afghanistan. #HumanitarianCrisis #MaternalDeath bit.ly/3WbcxmD
Is maternal mortality on the rise in Afghanistan? No official data, but much cause for concern
Afghanistan’s maternal mortality rate was already among the ten highest in the world, but it has come under further pressure. The United States’ decision to entirely cut aid to Afghanistan earlier thi...
bit.ly
September 28, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Cuts to aid, medicine scarcity, transport challenges, and bans on female education are converging into a public health disaster for mothers in #Afghanistan. #HumanitarianCrisis #MaternalDeath bit.ly/3WbcxmD
#Afghanistan isn’t water-poor – its #water resources are poorly managed, says @assemmayar1. But are there ways to reverse the tide? Read our latest report. #ClimateChange bit.ly/4gu5jDL
Afghanistan's Urban Water Dilemma: Why are Afghan cities running out of water?
Water scarcity, once thought to be a problem only for Afghanistan’s driest provinces like Farah and Nimruz, is now gripping Afghan cities. Predictions that Kabul’s groundwater will be exhausted by 203...
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September 18, 2025 at 1:04 PM
#Afghanistan isn’t water-poor – its #water resources are poorly managed, says @assemmayar1. But are there ways to reverse the tide? Read our latest report. #ClimateChange bit.ly/4gu5jDL
Despite all the hardship - hunger, debt, illness - she hopes education will pave a better path for her children. Her resilience is both heartbreaking and inspiring. #Afghanistan bit.ly/4ph7PBm
The Daily Hustle: How one mother cares for her family through sickness, hunger and debt
In Afghanistan, years of conflict, economic collapse, and rising poverty have left hundreds of thousands of families struggling to survive. For those already on the brink, a single illness can be life...
bit.ly
September 11, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Despite all the hardship - hunger, debt, illness - she hopes education will pave a better path for her children. Her resilience is both heartbreaking and inspiring. #Afghanistan bit.ly/4ph7PBm
AAN's Rama Mirzada hears from a mother about her family’s struggle to afford basics—rent, food, medicine—especially after her husband fell ill. Now, even their home is under threat of demolition. But she still holds out hope for a better future for her children. #Afghanistan bit.ly/4ph7PBm
The Daily Hustle: How one mother cares for her family through sickness, hunger and debt
In Afghanistan, years of conflict, economic collapse, and rising poverty have left hundreds of thousands of families struggling to survive. For those already on the brink, a single illness can be life...
bit.ly
September 7, 2025 at 7:21 PM
AAN's Rama Mirzada hears from a mother about her family’s struggle to afford basics—rent, food, medicine—especially after her husband fell ill. Now, even their home is under threat of demolition. But she still holds out hope for a better future for her children. #Afghanistan bit.ly/4ph7PBm
Mining is an industry of contrasts. For elites, it presents the potential for increasing their wealth and power, while for miners, the work is harsh and dangerous, often being the only alternative to subsistence farming. #Environment bit.ly/47ToWmk
The Mining Sector in Afghanistan: A picture in black and gold
The mining sector has become one of the foremost drivers of Afghanistan’s beleaguered national economy in recent years. It offers the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) revenue from taxes, royalties...
bit.ly
August 31, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Mining is an industry of contrasts. For elites, it presents the potential for increasing their wealth and power, while for miners, the work is harsh and dangerous, often being the only alternative to subsistence farming. #Environment bit.ly/47ToWmk
A year after the Taliban's new morality law came into force, fear looms in #Afghanistan as vice and virtue enforcers grapple with policing moral behavior. @kateclark66 hears from ordinary Afghans about how this law has affected their lives. bit.ly/4mBcj3V #WomensRights #HumanRights
A year of Propagating Virtue and Preventing Vice: Enforcers and 'enforced' speak about the Emirate's morality law
It is a year since the Islamic Emirate issued a new law to propagate virtue and prevent vice. The goal, of changing Afghans’ dress and behaviour, has been an abiding mission of the Taliban’s since the...
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August 21, 2025 at 9:05 AM
A year after the Taliban's new morality law came into force, fear looms in #Afghanistan as vice and virtue enforcers grapple with policing moral behavior. @kateclark66 hears from ordinary Afghans about how this law has affected their lives. bit.ly/4mBcj3V #WomensRights #HumanRights
In the lead up to the 4 anniversary of the fall of the Republic and the Taliban takeover of #Afghanistan, we're re-posting some of our reporting from that momentous period in August 2021. www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/w...
The Domino Effect in Paktia and the Fall of Zurmat: A case study of the Taleban surrounding Afghan cities
After a siege of almost two months, the centre of the strategic district of Zurmat in Paktia province fell into the hands of the Taleban on 2 July 2021. This followed the successive collapse of 11 of ...
www.afghanistan-analysts.org
August 14, 2025 at 1:12 PM
In the lead up to the 4 anniversary of the fall of the Republic and the Taliban takeover of #Afghanistan, we're re-posting some of our reporting from that momentous period in August 2021. www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/w...
As we approach the 4 year anniversary of the fall of Kabul. AAN will be revisiting from that time. This report from 9 August 2021, looks at the province that fell first, Nimruz, a remote yet highly strategic province. aan.af/3rZ3JR6
The Fall of Nimruz: A symbolic or economic game-changer?
With the fall of five provincial capitals in three days – Zaranj in Nimruz, Sheberghan in Jowzjan, Sarepul, Kunduz and Taloqan in Takhar –, the Taleban switched pace. After an unexpected and highly su...
aan.af
August 11, 2025 at 5:33 AM
As we approach the 4 year anniversary of the fall of Kabul. AAN will be revisiting from that time. This report from 9 August 2021, looks at the province that fell first, Nimruz, a remote yet highly strategic province. aan.af/3rZ3JR6
This month, the Daily Hustle hears from Nangialai, a 40-year-old tailor who first learned his trade in Pakistan & later set up shop in Kabul with the tools he had saved up to buy. bit.ly/4mEqh4P #Afghanistan
The Daily Hustle: Building a business in Kabul one stitch at a time
In Kabul’s Timur Shahi area, tailoring is serious business. Rows of shopfronts compete for customers. One marvels at how so many tailors, offering basically the same service, stay in business in such ...
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August 10, 2025 at 8:57 AM
This month, the Daily Hustle hears from Nangialai, a 40-year-old tailor who first learned his trade in Pakistan & later set up shop in Kabul with the tools he had saved up to buy. bit.ly/4mEqh4P #Afghanistan
Blood feuds have long been a defining feature of society among Pashtun tribes. Now they’re in decline. AAN’s Sharif Akram explores the role they have played in Khost province and how things are changing. #Afghanistan bit.ly/3GXCbYm
Breaking the Cycle of Centuries-old Violence: A decline in blood feuds in Khost province?
Blood feuds or revenge killings are closely connected to honour and shame, as seen through tribal customs and centuries-old traditions in Afghan society. For many decades, these feuds perpetuated cycl...
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August 4, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Blood feuds have long been a defining feature of society among Pashtun tribes. Now they’re in decline. AAN’s Sharif Akram explores the role they have played in Khost province and how things are changing. #Afghanistan bit.ly/3GXCbYm
Reposted by Afghanistan Analysts Network
Afghanistan is more or less forgotten by international media. If you want to stay informed, Afghan Analyst Network continues to be a very useful source to what is going on inside the country. @aanafgh.bsky.social
Even with a better-than-expected harvest, more than 20% of Afghans face crisis levels of food insecurity. The drought is only part of the problem. Read AAN’s latest report for @KateClark66’s deep dive into this complex issue.
#FoodSecurity #Afghanistan #Drought #ClimateChange bit.ly/4mf8CAg
#FoodSecurity #Afghanistan #Drought #ClimateChange bit.ly/4mf8CAg
Another Drought Year for Afghanistan... But prospects are not as bad as they could be
Afghanistan is bracing itself for its fourth drought in five years. For many farmers and herders, the drought is catastrophic: spring rains failed and with them, rainfed wheat and pasture in the range...
bit.ly
July 28, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Afghanistan is more or less forgotten by international media. If you want to stay informed, Afghan Analyst Network continues to be a very useful source to what is going on inside the country. @aanafgh.bsky.social
Even with a better-than-expected harvest, more than 20% of Afghans face crisis levels of food insecurity. The drought is only part of the problem. Read AAN’s latest report for @KateClark66’s deep dive into this complex issue.
#FoodSecurity #Afghanistan #Drought #ClimateChange bit.ly/4mf8CAg
#FoodSecurity #Afghanistan #Drought #ClimateChange bit.ly/4mf8CAg
Another Drought Year for Afghanistan... But prospects are not as bad as they could be
Afghanistan is bracing itself for its fourth drought in five years. For many farmers and herders, the drought is catastrophic: spring rains failed and with them, rainfed wheat and pasture in the range...
bit.ly
July 28, 2025 at 6:08 AM
Even with a better-than-expected harvest, more than 20% of Afghans face crisis levels of food insecurity. The drought is only part of the problem. Read AAN’s latest report for @KateClark66’s deep dive into this complex issue.
#FoodSecurity #Afghanistan #Drought #ClimateChange bit.ly/4mf8CAg
#FoodSecurity #Afghanistan #Drought #ClimateChange bit.ly/4mf8CAg
For over 40 years, writings on #Afghanistan’s clerics have focused on their role in diffusing militancy. AAN’s new report looks instead at how rural mullahs are becoming better educated in Islamic matters, wealthier, and more influential in both the community and the state. bit.ly/44W1XEi
Living a Mullah’s Life (2): The evolution of Islamic knowledge among village clerics
Over the past four decades much has been written about Afghan mullahs and madrasas. Most commentary has focused on the role they have played in the diffusion of militancy and jihadism in Afghanistan. ...
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July 23, 2025 at 6:04 PM
For over 40 years, writings on #Afghanistan’s clerics have focused on their role in diffusing militancy. AAN’s new report looks instead at how rural mullahs are becoming better educated in Islamic matters, wealthier, and more influential in both the community and the state. bit.ly/44W1XEi
Rural mullahs in SE #Afghanistan are no longer just local preachers – with better access to Islamic education & the Emirate’s backing, they’re taking on more prominent roles in their communities and in the state. bit.ly/44W1XEi
Living a Mullah’s Life (2): The evolution of Islamic knowledge among village clerics
Over the past four decades much has been written about Afghan mullahs and madrasas. Most commentary has focused on the role they have played in the diffusion of militancy and jihadism in Afghanistan. ...
bit.ly
July 21, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Rural mullahs in SE #Afghanistan are no longer just local preachers – with better access to Islamic education & the Emirate’s backing, they’re taking on more prominent roles in their communities and in the state. bit.ly/44W1XEi
They told me to come back next week. I’ve been coming back for months: AAN’s @rsurush examines how Afghans are stuck in a seemingly endless cycle of #RedTape just to get essential identity documents. #Afghanistan bit.ly/409c8no
Months, Years and Thousands of Afghanis Later… Stories of Afghans battling bureaucracy
Trying to get important documents from the state can be a maddening and expensive ordeal in Afghanistan. Many complain about the time-consuming and frustrating process of applying for a tazkira (ID ca...
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July 9, 2025 at 9:40 AM
They told me to come back next week. I’ve been coming back for months: AAN’s @rsurush examines how Afghans are stuck in a seemingly endless cycle of #RedTape just to get essential identity documents. #Afghanistan bit.ly/409c8no
Reposted by Afghanistan Analysts Network
The International Criminal Court just issued warrants for 2 top Taliban leaders for persecution of women & girls. The warrant is sealed, but I wrote about the details of the prosecutor's requests for @aanafgh.bsky.social in January. www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/r...
Reigniting the Flames of Justice: ICC seeks arrest of the Islamic Emirate's Supreme Leader and Chief Justice
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has requested arrest warrants for two of the most senior leaders of the Islamic Emirate. Khan said that there were “reasonable grounds” ...
www.afghanistan-analysts.org
July 8, 2025 at 2:44 PM
The International Criminal Court just issued warrants for 2 top Taliban leaders for persecution of women & girls. The warrant is sealed, but I wrote about the details of the prosecutor's requests for @aanafgh.bsky.social in January. www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/r...