WERKSTATT | SAMMLUNG | KOMPOSITION

19-2-2011

AAN's New Publications

AAN is proud to present three new publications and a long list of blogs.

Inciting the Believers to Fight

'Inciting the Believers to Fight: A closer look at the rhetoric of the Afghan jihad' is an insightful discussion by Florian Broschk of a rare Dari-language propaganda video. The analyis of the video and the language used in it reveals a Salafi-influenced narrative of oppression and corruption, designed to 'incite the Believers to fight'. The author argues that although this message is difficult to sell to large parts of the Afghan population, the insurgents benefit from the 'somewhat inconsistent and incoherent narrative offered by the Western backers of the Kabul government', who have difficulties in matching their own stories to the thinking and perceptions of the Afghan population. read more »

Peace offerings

In a thoughtful discussion paper called 'Peace offerings: Theories of conflict resolution and their applicability to Afghanistan', Matt Waldman and Thomas Ruttig take a more theoretical approach to the current debate on reconciliation, often too narrowly described just as 'talking to the Taleban'. They look into various theories of conflict resolution and explore which insights they may offer for a peaceful solution of the Afghan conflict. The authors conclude that the theories discussed suggest that military de-escalation, effective mediation, dialogue and confidence-building measures, supported by track II and III diplomacy, could increase the prospects for a negotiated outcome of the Afghan conflict. read more »

And a long list of blogs

You may want to also check out the 29 blogs that were posted since the last mailing (which admittedly was two months ago). There are a large number of blogs about the twists and turns in the bizarre and endless aftermath of the parliamentary elections, But there is much more: blogs about about transition, PRTs, the intangible cultural heritage, women's shelte rs, legal pluralism, destroyed orchards, the Taleban's education policy, US military bases, snow and drought, night raids, militias (oops, I mean Afghan Local Police), Victim's Day, the Pentagon Papers, Tunis and Tahrir, and a respons to 'an under-researched rant' against human rights activists. Well worth a browse. read more »

Curious what else AAN has to say? Look here for the latest media mentions and quotes: read more »

As always with best regards, the Afghanistan Analysts Network