Feinstein International Center / By Paul Fishstein and Andrew Wilder / January 2012

This paper by Paul Fishstein and Andrew Wilder presents findings from research conducted by FIC in five provinces of Afghanistan between July 2008 and January 2010 on the relationship between aid projects and security.

Afghanistan has been a testing ground for a key aspect of counterinsurgency doctrine, namely that humanitarian and development projects can help to bring or maintain security in strategically important environments, and by “winning hearts and minds” undermine support for radical, insurgent, or terrorist groups. The assumption that aid projects improve security has lead to a sharp increase in overall development funding, an increased percentage of activities programmed based on strategic security considerations, and a shift of development activities to the military. Given what is at stake, it is essential that policy makers understand whether and how aid projects can actually contribute to security.

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Afghanistan Analysts Network(AAN)

Despite representing the bulk of Afghanistan’s post-2001 policing, the paramilitary dimension of the Afghan police has received little attention among analysts. In AAN's latest report, 'Paramilitary Policing in Context. The Risks of Expediency', Antonio Giustozzi and Mohammad Isaqzadeh describe the origin and development of paramilitary policing in Afghanistan, and explore what this means for the prospects of a smooth transition and future stability.

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New York Times / By PATRICIA GOSSMAN / December 26, 2011

Watershed moments in Afghanistan happen by stealth. Last weekend — the anniversary of the Soviet invasion 32 years ago — President Hamid Karzai rid himself of his most outspoken critic, a prominent official with one of the few government institutions in Afghanistan that actually performs well — the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. The move, announced Thursday, seems intended not only to silence a critic but bury the truth about the crimes of the past.

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Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) / By Antonio Giustozzi / December 13, 2011

This new AAN report by authors Antonio Giustozzi and Claudio Franco looks at the Taleban’s changing attitude towards state education. In the last two years, the Taleban have increasingly allowed schools to operate in areas under their control or influence, but this has come at a price - a more conservative curriculum and more mullahs employed as teachers in state schools.

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Afghanistan Analysts Network(AAN) / By Sari Kouvo /November 27, 2011

The abuses and violations suffered by Afghans during the conflicts are all but forgotten, and although pragmatic about what is possible in the current security environment, Afghans seem to view reconciliation and justice as intimately linked. AAN’s Sari Kouvo takes a look at recent publications by the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) documenting Afghan opinions about reconciliation and justice and discusses recent civil society conferences focusing on transitional justice and the situation of victims of war crimes.

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Afghanistan analysts Network (AAN) / January 28, 2011

Despite the recent deployments of more troops and greater military resources to Afghanistan by the US-led Western coalition, there has been no abatement in the insurgency. It rather is increasing in lethality, territorial scope and mobilisation beyond their main base in the Pashtun ethnic group. As a result, doubts about the efficacy of conventional war-fighting, counter-insurgency and transition strategies grow and alternative means of mitigating the conflict come into sight.

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The Express Tribune / January 28, 2011

akistan and Afghanistan have established a joint commission to work out modalities for direct negotiations with the Taliban in a bid to accelerate the Afghan-Taliban reconciliation process.

Headed by the Pakistani and Afghan foreign ministers, the bilateral commission will comprise top military and intelligence officials from both countries. This agreement was signed after Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his Afghan counterpart Zalmay Rassoul met in Islamabad on Thursday.

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The Telegraph / By Duncan Gardham /January 28, 2011

The number of “expressions of interest from senior members of the insurgency” have “distinctly risen” the official said.

The individuals were interested in “coming home and living in Afghanistan,” the official added, implying that the Taliban leaders were currently outside the country, probably in Pakistan.

"Whatever one says about the rate of progress of overt reconciliation, there is no doubt that the number of feelers coming out is going up," the official said.

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Post / January 26, 2011

Afghan justice and security officials want to adopt the U.S. practice of detaining suspected insurgents indefinitely without trial, according to senior U.S. and Afghan officials involved in efforts to have the government in Kabul take control of detention operations in the country.

The Afghans' embrace of prolonged detention could provoke an angry reaction from human rights advocates who say that low-level insurgents and sympathizers have been swept into an opaque system that allows only limited opportunities for adjudication and redress.

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Human Rights Watch / January 24, 2011

While fighting escalated in 2010, peace talks between the government and the Taliban rose to the top of the political agenda. Civilian casualties reached record levels, with increased insurgent activity across the country. An additional 30,000 United States troops increased international forces to more than 150,000. Endemic corruption and violence marred parliamentary elections in September 2010.

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