21 March 2015
The New York Times has reported militias, paramilitary forces and warlords are now prevalent in Afghanistan. These groups were created as part of the United States’ exit strategy, with varying support and US involvement. (more…)
15 December 2014
In the wake of a 500 page summary report that was released by the US Senate on 9 December 2014, five countries have been identified as being home to secret CIA-controlled prisons namely: Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Thailand and Afghanistan. According to the Washington Post, Afghanistan alone housed no fewer than four such facilities. (more…)
Source: The Washington Post | Decoding the secret black sites on the Senate’s report on the CIA interrogation program
Source: Huffington Post | More Than A Quarter Of The World's Countries Helped The CIA Run Its Torture Program
Source: Foreign Policy | Poland Finally Comes Clean About Housing a Secret CIA Dungeon
13 November 2014
On 12 November 2014, the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released the 2014 Afghanistan Opium Survey. According to the survey, in 2014, opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has increased by 7 percent to 224.000 hectares, with production levels potentially climbing to as much as 17 percent. Figures also show that, due to the unfavourable security situation, attempts to eradicate crops have decreased by a whapping 63 percent. (more…)
Source: UN News Centre | Opium harvest in Afghanistan hits new high in 2014 – UN
Source: NPR | Afghanistan's Opium Harvest Sets New Record
Source: The New York Times | Afghanistan’s Unending Addiction
5 November 2014
On 4 November 2014, the ECtHR decided in the case Tarakhel v. Switzerland that Switzerland would be in violation of Article 3 ECHR if it would send back the applicants, a family from Afghanistan with six children, to Italy without obtaining individual guarantees from the Italian authorities that they can be together as a family in Italy and that the facilities and conditions the family would be in would be adapted to the age of the children. (more…)
Source: ECtHR | TARAKHEL v. SWITZERLAND | Application No. 29217/12 | Judgment | 4 November 2014
23 October 2014
In a recent interview by The Diplomat, the Kabul based journalist and author of A Man and His Motorcycle: How Hamid Karzai Came to Power Bette Dam discussed the prospects of success for Afghanistan’s new ‘unity government’ and the role of the international community. (more…)