Afghanistan Analysts Network
Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN): independent Kabul-based policy research organisation. You can find our reports on our website t.co/XIL2n9vX8f - reposts does not imply endorsement
- In #Afghanistan, marriage is rarely a personal choice. In Panjshir, some girls refuse forced marriages by turning up at a man’s door and asking to marry him. It’s called shingari. This is the story of a young woman who said no and claimed her own future. 🔗 bit.ly/4agaTrQ
- What does policing look like under the Islamic Emirate? Antonio Giustozzi examines how policing evolved since August 2021 - intelligence directorate now dominates investigations, police numbers are far lower than claimed & local Taliban commanders remain central to enforcement. bit.ly/49s8UjN
- Looking back at our most-read reports of 2025, one thing stands out: readers were most engaged with reporting on women’s lives, social change, economic pressure, climate impacts & the consequences of shrinking aid in Afghanistan. Here’s a snapshot of what resonated most last year: bit.ly/4qX6GyN
- Afghan women have spoken. In our latest podcast, Afghan Women Spoke: A People’s Tribunal listened, @rachelreid.bsky.social shares stories of courage, testimony, and finally accountability – the Tribunal’s verdict. A powerful listen. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a... #Afghanistan #WomensRights”
- We begin the year with a review of Shabnam, a newly translated novel by Bengali author Mujtaba Ali - a lyrical novel set in the tumultuous period of the reign and overthrow of King Amanullah & rooted in Persian literary traditions of mysticism and epic love. #Afghanistan #Literature bit.ly/451wH7H
- In 2025, the Emirate ordered books removed from bookstores and libraries in Afghanistan and set up a committee to ban texts deemed “incompatible” with official beliefs. bit.ly/4q2Zst2
- What Afghans may read – and what’s now banned – by the Islamic Emirate of #Afghanistan. Our latest report examines book bans, library restrictions, and changes to university curricula. Full report: bit.ly/4q2Zst2
- The men we interviewed noted that while women face the harshest restrictions in #Afghanistan, men are burdened with enforcing compliance with the vice & virtue at home — under threat of punishment if they fail to do so. bit.ly/44EkTrO
- More than a year after it was introduced AAN’s @KateClark66 takes a look at how the Emirate’s morality law is life in #Afghanistan -- from harsh enforcement in some cities to negotiated resistance in Kabul, geography shapes how morality policing is lived and resisted. bit.ly/44EkTrO
- Housebuilding in Kabul has slowed dramatically since 2021, not because demand has fallen, but because new legal requirements & bureaucratic hurdles make it nearly impossible for people to build or expand homes. The result: rising rents, lost livelihoods & deepening urban inequality. bit.ly/3METkbJ
- This report is a reminder that justice doesn’t only live in courtrooms. Afghan women created their own space for truth, dignity, and accountability. @rachelreid.bsky.social reports on the historic verdict of the People's Tribunal. bit.ly/4rWIMVm #GenderJustice #Afghanistan
- Rachel Reid breaks down the evidence behind “Who Dares, Kills?” — alleged extrajudicial killings by UK special forces in #Afghanistan. #WarCrimes Watch the clip👇Read the investigation bit.ly/4rDORpQ
- Is the UK’s SAS in trouble? High level whistle-blowers, tenacious victims, their lawyers & some damning journalism is rocking the reputation of the #UK’s most storied special forces. @rachelreid.bsky.social takes a look. #Afghanistan bit.ly/4rDORpQ
- People live on hope. My hope died a long time ago and a life without hope is a slow kind of dying. There is more than one way to kill a person. You can take a gun to a girl’s house and fire shots in the air outside her door. #Afghanistan bit.ly/4ri3YEY
- “Once a girl is claimed by gunfire, no one else dares to marry her.” In this installment of the Daily Hustle, @HamidPakte69477 hears the story of one such woman whose future was erased. #Afghanistan #HumanRights #GirlsNotBrides bit.ly/4ri3YEY
- A single gunshot can change a life. In one part of #Afghanistan, the firing of a rifle outside a girl’s home became the public claim of her as someone’s wife—regardless of her wishes. @HamidPakte69477 hears her story. bit.ly/4ri3YEY
- “Authoritarian pragmatism” in motion — see how transactional ties between the #Taliban and their northern neighbours are deepening. A must-read analysis by @lettyphillips. #CentralAsia #Afghanistan #Diplomacy #Trade bit.ly/49NDk0r
- Since the #Taliban's return, Central Asia has shifted from secular caution to pragmatic partnerships, prioritising trade and energy ties. Our latest report explores the new dynamics! #CentralAsia #Diplomacy #Afghanistan #Trade bit.ly/49NDk0r
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- #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
- 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
- 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...
- 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
- 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
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- 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
- 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
- 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 NetworkThe 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...
- Getting an ID, passport, or marriage cert in #Afghanistan means endless queues, paperwork, travel and lost income. Bureaucracy isn’t just slow, it’s expensive in time, money, and dignity. Rohullah Sorush looks into what it takes to get these documents. bit.ly/409c8no
- As the opium ban in #Afghanistan enters its 4th year, only Badakhshan farmers have been able to defy it, because of its remoteness, rugged terrain and unique politics farmers from control. #Afghanistan bit.ly/4ldJSIm
- Abdul Halim didn’t want to leave #Pakistan, but the police arrested his underage sons. It broke his heart to leave without them, but feared that he and his female family members would be deported in a humiliating manner. #Afghanistan bit.ly/4k1Osse
- Since 2023, more than 2.4 million Afghans have returned from #Pakistan and Iran to #Afghanistan; some were deported. In their impoverished and internationally isolated homeland, most returnees face a bleak prospect with few job opportunities. bit.ly/4k1Osse
- The origin story of #Afghanistan's #HumanRights movement: Back then there was no email, no WhatsApp, a few of us would take an envelope to the UN & push it under the door. We didn’t know if it went anywhere. We didn’t know if anyone was reading it. bit.ly/4kRiSOX
- Despite IEA’s severe restrictions, Afghan human rights defenders persist.Many work from exile and a new wave of women's rights activists has emerged in #Afghanistan. @rachelreid.bsky.social has been speaking to human rights defenders about adaptation and survival in the new era. bit.ly/4kRiSOX
- My father was a mullah and chose the simple life. But nowadays, the pursuit of a better life & desire to accumulate wealth are shaping people’s thinking. Mullahs, like everyone else, have become more worldly. They seek wealth & work for it. #Afghanistan bit.ly/3SJYQcY
- In rural #Afghanistan, mullahs (local religious leaders) have long been mainstays of local life. As AAN's Sharif Akram explores, how their status has evolved over the past 40 years—are they thriving or just surviving? bit.ly/3SJYQcYf
- We spoke to some of the 200k Afghans who sought safety in the #US in August 2021 whose families might now be left behind in #Afghanistan, after a series of changes in US policy introduced by President Trump’s administration in January 2025. bit.ly/3HmSMEH #refugees
