Essential Readings

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In the News

EFG selection of the week: Droughts in Afghanistan

Water Ways, by Majeed Zarand
"Most Afghans are more worried about access to water than they are about being attacked by insurgents.  In a country that is 85% agrarian, Afghan villagers and the government - in partnership with international aid organizations - are trying to deal with the incongruous mix of droughts and flash floods that terrorize large parts of the country."

BBC News | October 6
Afghanistan appeals for aid as drought looms
Afghanistan is appealing for $142m (£92m) to feed 2.6 million people this winter as it faces the worst drought for a decade.

IRIN | October 5
Mohammad Israyel, “I blame the government as much as the drought - there are no jobs”
"Northern Afghanistan has been experiencing drought-like conditions in recent months which have hit crops, livestock and the livelihoods of farmers and their families. Two farmers from Khoram Sar Bagh District in Samangan Province told IRIN they feared they would soon have nothing to eat, and were so desperate that they had begun selling their livestock."

Pashto women's poetry: a mirror of their social status? 

Afghanistan Analyst Network | September 30
"On Friday, 16 September, the Mirman Baheer Association, a Pashtun women’s socio-cultural network, met in Kabul.* It was the third gathering of Pashto women poets by the Association and it brought together more than 100 women poets from all over Afghanistan. AAN’s Naheed Esar Malikzay reflects on Pashtun women’s poetry and about how it mirrors their status in society."

Kabul, Streets with no name

BBC News | September 29
Tahir Qadiry joined postman Ahmad Omid on his rounds.

EFG selection of the week: The Haqqani Network

September 27
Dismantling the Haqqani network Pakistan Observer

Taliban insists it controls Haqqanid, not Pakistan The Tribune
The Taliban took the unusual step Tuesday of insisting that it, not Pakistan, controls the Haqqani network, with Islamabad under growing US pressure to cut alleged ties with the group.

September 26
Mullen's accusations: Has U.S. reached its limits with Pakistan? Christian Science Monitor
Adm. Mullen's public accusation that Pakistani intelligence was involved in militants' attacks on US targets in Afghanistan suggest that the US has reached its limit with its 'strategic partner.'

Only featured here: a note from Afghanistan Today's editor-in-chief Afghanistan Today
"As a former news reporter, I know very well how media coverage of Afghanistan reeks of morbid obsession with the worst of everything that is currently happening in the country [...] But what we also see and build on is that the capital, provinces and our writers themselves are brimming with stories that can uplift and inspire."

When the market dries up

Afghanistan Today | September 10
As the number of foreign troops starts to reduce, tapering towards the 2014 scheduled withdrawal of the remaining combat forces, Afghan manufacturing and logistic companies are growing anxious about this looming exit of their best customers.

For some former Guantanamo detainees, present bleaker than past

The Washington Post | September 8
Since the attacks of Sept. 11, the United States has held more than 200 Afghans in Guantanamo Bay. All but 20 have been released. Now back in their war-torn homeland, the men serve as legacies of what is arguably the most notorious institution of the U.S. war against terrorism.

Massoud le Résistant
L'Express | 1999-2010

Saudi Prince: U.S. missed chance for Afghan withdrawal

Reuters | September 7
"The United States should have used the killing of Osama bin Laden to declare victory and quickly withdraw from Afghanistan and now faces an increasingly nationalist uprising in the country, a senior Saudi prince said on Wednesday."

Read Turki al-Faisal's declarations ten years ago
Afghans could have sold out Bin Laden
Time | November 2001

U.S., beware the consequences in Afghanistan

Christian Science Monitor | October 22, 2001
"American and British airstrikes on alleged Taliban targets will hardly eliminate Islamic extremism or terrorism on Afghan soil. If anything, they may be proving counterproductive. Not only are the attacks inflicting rising civilian casualties, but they are also inciting a potential new onslaught of anti-Western militants - many angered by what they see as an attack against Islam - in other parts of the Muslim world."

Female militia chief keeps peace in Helmand district

IWPR | September 7

Afghan war: what some local officials are willing to do for peace

Christian Science Monitor | September 6
" Some local Afghan officials are hoping to end the decade-long Afghan war by negotiating with the Taliban – province by province."

Battle for Afghanistan's Gambir Jungle: soldier's tale of an epic fight

Christian Science Monitor | September 6
" Operation Hammer Down was supposed to clear out insurgent camps in Afghanistan's fabled Pech Valley. Instead, for three Army units, it became a five-day struggle for survival."

Russian ambassador to U.S.: Don't flee Afghanistan

NPR | September 5
"Morning Edition co-host Renee Montagne, who is reporting from Afghanistan this month, sat down with Avetisyan - who served as a young diplomat in Kabul during the soviet war - and asked him about the U.S.-Soviet rivalry in the 1960s, when the superpowers were competing to help develop a poor — but peaceful — Afghanistan."

Tajiks to retain control of Afghan frontier

IWPR | September 2
" No self-respecting nation can allow someone else to guard its borders, whatever ambitions Moscow might have, analysts say."

Two sides of COIN

Jean MacKenzie , Global Post | September 1
The failure of the COIN doctrine to properly have answered the question “Who are we fighting?”

The Allure of Afghanistan

Pepe Escobar, Al Jazeera | August 29
"Asian powers jostle for position amid vast mineral reserves and strategic oil pipelines, while West keeps bombing."

All politics is local in Afghanistan

The Examiner | August 27
"The international community has failed to grasp Afghanistan’s underlying organizing principles. Shahrani claims the building blocks of Afghan governance are social solidarity units called qawms, which are tied together by family lineages, clans, tribes, sects and ethno-linguistic commonalities."

The story of Quds day in Kabul

The Daily Outlook Afghanistan | August 27
Afghan demonstrators celebrate Quds day in order to raise awareness about the plight of Palestinians.

A triangular fight

Afghanistan Today | August 26
"Taliban fighters in Wardak Province scored a major achievement this month in their fight against international forces by shooting down a military helicopter and killing 38 elite US and Afghan troops. But for the moment, they say their struggle is as much against rivals from the Hezb-e Islami faction who are supposedly hampering their local operations. And while Wardak Governor Mohammad Halim Fidai says he's working to neutralize both sides, his critics accuse him of stoking the flames."

India's Af-Pak Strategy

Shashank Joshi | August 26
Since 2001, India has become Afghanistan’s fifth-largest donor, pledging $1.2 billion in funds. Is this merely an attempt to increase leverage over Pakistan, or could India become part of the regional solution on which Western powers have increasingly pinned their
hopes? Shashank Joshi analyses the motivations behind India’s own Af-Pak strategy.

The Talibanization of Central Afghanistan

Huffington Post | August 23
"The proximity of these incidents to the capital further entrenches the impression that the government's writ does not extend outside of Kabul."

Troop pullout bad for Afghan economy

IWPR | August 21
"Experts warn country is overreliant on foreign aid money and on foreign troops who guarantee a measure of stability."

Afghanistan: prospects of a regional solution

South Asia Analysis Group | August 15
"When Obama became President, it was an Af-Pak policy; now it is increasingly a Pak-Af policy. Pakistan has clearly emerged as the greater problem."

Around 4 million Afghans face unemployment

khaama Press | August 13

Afghanistan's future murkier as Karzai disavows third term_

Christian Science Monitor | August 11
"Karzai has a habit of stepping back from dramatic pronouncements. And this one involves an election light years away in Afghan political time."

Secret peace talks between U.S. and Taliban collapse over leaks

The Telegraph | August 10
"Secret exploratory peace talks between the United States and the Taliban leadership have broken down after details of the negotiations were leaked."

Why the surge in Afghanistan has failed

The Examiner | August 9
“For the first few months after he arrived, almost every member of his new team in ISAF headquarters would drop the phrase, 'in Iraq we ... ' into conversations - a recipe for disaster in Afghanistan."

What the deadly U.S. helicopter crash tells us 

Radio Free Europe | August 8

Increased IED attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan

Ghanizada | August 9

Afghanistan helicopter attack: why can't both sides try talking for a change?

Michael Semple | August 7
"But any side in this conflict entertaining hope of a clean military victory is making a dangerous mistake, likely only to lead to more regrettable deaths on all sides. Why not try talking for a change?"

Attack adds to sign of an unstable region

Alissa J. Rubin | August 7
“The reason the security situation began to deteriorate is that the international forces were not paying attention to the customs and traditions of the people”

With war and neglect, Afghans suffer from water shortage

Xinhuanet | August 6
The head of Afghan Environment Directorate Mustafa Zahir has warned that 68 percent of Kabul's underground water is contaminated.

US probes Afghanistan special forces helicopter crash

BBC News | August 7
The US military is trying to confirm whether insurgent fire brought down a helicopter in Afghanistan with the loss of 38 people, most of them Americans.

In Afghanistan, the rise and fall of "Little America"

The Washington Post | August 5
"The Americans called the town Lashkar Gah. The Afghans called it Little America."

Afghanistan seeks to disband some armed militias

Ray Riviera | August 2nd
“The existence of these illegally armed groups has created serious problems in bringing peace"

The writing on Kabul's walls

Mark Magnier | August 2nd
"A group of nascent graffiti artists work in the shadows as they take spray can to wall to make political statements; corrupt politicians, drug traffickers and warlords are a favorite target."

Getting Bin Laden - What happened that night in Abbottabad

Nicholas Schmidle | August 2nd
"During the ninety-minute helicopter flight, James and his teammates rehearsed the operation in their heads."

A critical analysis of this article by B. Raman here. 

Women and Reconciliation: what are the concerns?

Sari Kouvo | July 28
‘We already have a government of warlords, what difference will the Taleban make?’

U.S. officials write final chapter on al-Qaeda and Bin Laden

Peter Gelling | July 28

Why they think al-Qaeda is on brink of collapse

Greg Miller | July 27

Why "success" in Afghanistan matters

Highlights of Anthony H. Cordesman's The Failures that Shaped (and Almost Lost) the Afghan War (Center for Strategic and International Studies). 

The war in Hipstamatic

July 25
Afghanistan through an iPhone

Why does the war in Afghanistan go on?

Eugene Robinson | July 25
"The war is being perpetuated not by rational pursuit of our national interests but by its own inertia."

You can take the reporter out of Afghanistan

Jean MacKenzie | July 24

Militants striking both sides of the Af-Pak border to disrupt security cooperation

Zia Ur Rehman | July 22

Paktya's lost promise

Emilie Jelinek | July 21

Afghanistan is now India's problem

Sumit Ganguly | July 19

Multimedia

PICTURE SHOW: Unexpected Afghans: Images give people a voice

The word "Afghanistan" often conjures up images of war and violence. But photographer Seamus Murphy tends to do his own thing, and maybe that's why his perspective seems so personal and unique: In addition to guns and blood, his photos show smiles and families and dinners and all the things you'd expect to see in any complex culture.

MOVIE: The Boy Mir: Ten years in Afghanistan

Traveling to central Afghanistan within a few months after the fall of the Taliban, filmmaker Phil Grabsky met one young 8-year-old boy, Mir, living in the recently destroyed stone Buddhas of Bamiyan. Following Mir through the subsequent ten years of his life.

DOCUMENTARY: Massoud l'Afghan

By Christophe de Ponfilly | Introduction on Youtube
Purchase the DVD here
Watch an interview of de Ponfilly here

Knowing Afghanistan: the images of Peter Bussian

'The Afghans: Pictures of Resilience, 2001-2011
Sep 10 2011, Pacific Palisades.

EVENT : Afghan monologues

Southbank Center | October 4, 2011
"This new documentary play from iceandfire theatre brings to the stage the real words of men and women from across Afghan society, as well as Western commentators from the front line."

BLOG: Understanding Afghanistan and why it matters

Interview with Edward Girardet
"Today, ten years after 9/11, what do we really know about this country, its real link to international terror, and its role in the larger regional and geopolitical issues shaping this volatile region. For thirty years few have know this place better than journalist Edward Girardet. Now he has distilled and shared much of that knowledge into his new work, Killing the Cranes, A reporter's journey through three decades of war in Afghanistan"

PROJECT: Capturing daily life in Afghanistan

"The Denmark-based non-profit organization, International Media Support, helps train Afghan journalists how to report in conflict zones and in basic safety skills. But it also is teaching the journalists to tell the story of their daily lives through photography in a two-year "empowering photos" project."

STORY: Girls education in Afghanistan - Nazifa's story

Nazifa is 20, citizen of Mazar-e-Sharif
"Getting girls back into school has been one of the rare Afghan success stories of the last 9 years. But the progress made is in danger of slipping away. In this short video by Oxfam Great Britain, Nazifa tells us her story."

DEBATE: The US campaign for reintegration and expansion of Afghan Security Forces

South Asia Center | August 30
Discussion with Brigadier General Guy “Tom” Cosentino, the Deputy Commanding General for Regional Support at NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan.

DOCUMENTARY: Les soufis d'Afghanistan

Documentary: Arnaud Desjardins
After realizing some Tibetan films, Desjardins went to Afghanistan —calm and isolated in the early 1960s and filmed interviews with Sufi teachers (pirs or checkhs) and also music and movements (dances). Afghanistan was largely unknown in France in the 1960s, and the only Sufi traditions known in France were those of North Africa and Senegal-Mali which are rather different from those of Afghanistan.

VIDEO: The powers behing Afghan heroin & the real profiteers of the International Drug trade

EyeOpener Video Report by James Corbett on Afghanistan’s White Gold for boilingfrogspost.com

NETWORK: Online who's who in Afghanistan

Search for Afghan Ministers, Governors, politicians, military and police commanders.

Book announcement ! 
Land of the Unconquerable

The Lives of Contemporary Afghan Women by  Jennifer Heath, Ashraf Zahedi 

Art v. war: windows and mirror

Muralists from around the world and school children in Kabul create art illustrating the human cost of war in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's economic prospects

July 21
Stephanie Sanok, Senior Fellow, International Security Program, discusses her recent trip to Afghanistan and shares observations on the current policy landscape.

Pakistan can be the key in solving conflicts in Afghanistan

July 24
Pakistani PM Yosuf Raza Gilani on how decisive is the country's involvement in Afghanistan for the region's stability.

Book announcement !
Fragments of the Afghan Frontier

By Magnus Marsden and Benjamin Hopkins
To be published in December 2011

The State of the U.S.-Pakistan Relationship: A Discussion with Pervez Musharraf
July 21, 2011 // 11:00am — 12:00pm
Webcast event

"Reporting Conflict"
July 16, 2011
Lecture given by BBC World Affairs Producer Stuart Hughes to the London School of Economics Polis Summer School

BBC Program: Afghanistan: War without End?

June 26, 2011 // 11:00pm BBC News Channel
In the first of three programmes to mark ten years since the invasion of Afghanistan, key decision makers reveal the inside story of how the West was drawn ever deeper into the Afghan war. Reporter John Ware charts the history of a decade of fighting and looks at when the conflict may end.

The Photographer

The Photographer, a graphic novel documenting MSF’s clandestine cross-border humanitarian operation to assist Afghans stranded without medical care in areas hardest-hit after the Soviet invasion in 1979.

Six days in Afghanistan

Asia Foundation | June 17
Asia Foundation in San Francisco Hosts Six Days in Afghanistan Event with Philanthropist Janet Ketcham