Afghanistan Analysts Network

Recommended Reads on Afghanistan: From travellers’ tales to ‘peace negotiations’ to stories of oppression and resistance Today, we bring you some book reviews. We asked AAN writers and friends to recommend books about Afghanistan that they had enjoyed. Their choices are an eclectic mix, ranging from the scholarly to the...

Looking for good books about Afghanistan?
From Afghan women’s fiction to 1930s travel writing, the Hippie Trail and the Doha negotiations — AAN writers and friends share some recommended reads.
bit.ly/4aYovbK
#Afghanistan #Books

AAN has also published an unofficial English translation of the Islamic Emirate’s Penal Code for Courts, translated by Deoband seminary graduate and former BBC journalist John Butt. bit.ly/4chCkDe #Afghanistan

AAN has also published an unofficial English translation of the Islamic Emirate’s Penal Code for Courts, translated by Deoband seminary graduate and former BBC journalist John Butt. bit.ly/4chCkDe #Afghanistan

Inside the Islamic Emirate’s Penal Code: Crime, punishment and authority in Afghanistan The Islamic Emirate has circulated a new penal code to Afghanistan’s courts, standardising punishments for everything from insulting the ulema to forgery, taking and giving bribes and casting the evil...

In our new report, @clarkkate.bsky.social examines the implications of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan's new penal code for human rights and the rule of law, including concerns about discrimination, confession-based convictions and the concentration of authority.
bit.ly/4cgPro1

Forty-Five Days to Spain: One man’s journey from Afghanistan in search of a future War has shaped the lives of several generations of Afghans, with many pushed to travel beyond the country’s borders, seeking sanctuary or opportunity in more peaceful places. That includes the hundred...

Forty-five days. Eleven countries.
In 2015, Harun left #Afghanistan and crossed borders on foot and by sea to reach Spain. He started from zero — and built a business. Today, he’s a Spanish citizen.
A story about risk, resilience and rebuilding.
bit.ly/4rrMUvR
#Refugees

Pollution in Afghanistan: Air, water, waste and noise under weak governance Kabul’s winters bring a suffocating haze, as residents burn coal, wood and even plastic to heat their homes and use outdated vehicles, releasing toxic fumes into the city’s dry air. However,  perhaps ...

Kabul’s smog is only part of the story. Across Afghanistan, air pollution, contaminated groundwater, open dumping and persistent noise reflect deeper governance and infrastructure gaps.

Read the full report: bit.ly/4am5Vsj

When a Girl Turns Up at the Door: How an Afghan custom helped one young woman refuse a forced marriage For women – and often not for men either – marriage is rarely a personal choice. It is usually decided by families, most often by fathers. In Panjshir province, some young women try to escape unwanted...

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

From Insurgency to Government: How the Islamic Emirate polices Afghanistan Much has been written about Afghanistan’s police force during the Islamic Republic, but so far almost nothing about policing under the Islamic Emirate. In August 2021, when the Taliban took over the M...

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

What We Wrote, What You Read in 2025: Reflections on AAN coverage last year and the year to come In 2025, AAN followed many major developments in Afghanistan as the Islamic Emirate continued to consolidate its rule, implementing its ‘vice and virtue’ law and making efforts to control the narrativ...

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 Spoke: A People’s Tribunal listened Podcast Episode · AANCast · 08/01/2026 · 26m

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”

Reviewing a Unique Mystical Novel Set in 1920s Afghanistan: Shabnam, a pathway to the sun The recently published English translation of the Bengali novel Shabnam, written by Syed Mujtaba Ali and drawing on his experiences of Kabul during the 1920s, deserves a closer look from anyone intere...

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

What Afghans May Read: Banned books under the Islamic Emirate In 2025, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan intensified its efforts to circumscribe the information available to Afghan citizens, following its October 2024 order to libraries and bookstores to remove...

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: Banned books under the Islamic Emirate In 2025, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan intensified its efforts to circumscribe the information available to Afghan citizens, following its October 2024 order to libraries and bookstores to remove...

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

Law, Control, Fear – and some Defiance: Citizens and enforcers talk about the ‘promotion of virtue and prevention of vice’ It has been more than a year since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan introduced a new vice and virtue law. This law lays out what behaviour and actions the Islamic Emirate deems obligatory or forbidd...

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

Law, Control, Fear – and some Defiance: Citizens and enforcers talk about the ‘promotion of virtue and prevention of vice’ It has been more than a year since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan introduced a new vice and virtue law. This law lays out what behaviour and actions the Islamic Emirate deems obligatory or forbidd...

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

Arrested Development in Kabul: Housebuilding between legal hurdles and rising demand Shortly after its return to power in August 2021, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) imposed new curbs on building in the capital. This, together with follow-up regulations issued by the Kabul M...

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

Afghan Women Spoke: The People’s Tribunal for Afghan Women listened The judges of the People’s Tribunal for the Women of Afghanistan have found the Taliban guilty of the crime against humanity of gender persecution. Although this civil society tribunal does not have t...

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

Who Dares, Kills? Alleged war crimes and cover-ups by Britain’s special forces British special forces are being investigated for war crimes allegedly committed between 2010 and 2013 in Afghanistan. A public inquiry is looking into the deaths of Afghans who were killed in suspici...

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

Claimed by Gunfire: How a single shot stole an Afghan girl’s future In parts of southeastern Afghanistan, a boy seeking to force a girl into marriage may fire gunshots outside her home to claim her publicly as his future wife, often after the girl’s family has refused...

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

Claimed by Gunfire: How a single shot stole an Afghan girl’s future In parts of southeastern Afghanistan, a boy seeking to force a girl into marriage may fire gunshots outside her home to claim her publicly as his future wife, often after the girl’s family has refused...

“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

Claimed by Gunfire: How a single shot stole an Afghan girl’s future In parts of southeastern Afghanistan, a boy seeking to force a girl into marriage may fire gunshots outside her home to claim her publicly as his future wife, often after the girl’s family has refused...

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

The Islamic Emirate and the (Other) Authoritarians: Afghanistan-Central Asian relations since 2021 Since the Taliban’s return to power, they have invested heavily in building diplomatic relationships with the five states of Central Asia — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekis...

“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

The Islamic Emirate and the (Other) Authoritarians: Afghanistan-Central Asian relations since 2021 Since the Taliban’s return to power, they have invested heavily in building diplomatic relationships with the five states of Central Asia — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekis...

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

The Islamic Emirate and the (Other) Authoritarians: Afghanistan-Central Asian relations since 2021 Since the Taliban’s return to power, they have invested heavily in building diplomatic relationships with the five states of Central Asia — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekis...

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

A New Accountability Mechanism for Afghanistan: What the IIM-A can (and cannot) do The United Nations is creating an Independent Investigative Mechanism for Afghanistan (IIM-A) which will collect evidence of war crimes and other grave violations of international law. The new UN body...

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

A New Accountability Mechanism for Afghanistan: What the IIM-A can (and cannot) do The United Nations is creating an Independent Investigative Mechanism for Afghanistan (IIM-A) which will collect evidence of war crimes and other grave violations of international law. The new UN body...

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

A New Accountability Mechanism for Afghanistan: What the IIM-A can (and cannot) do The United Nations is creating an Independent Investigative Mechanism for Afghanistan (IIM-A) which will collect evidence of war crimes and other grave violations of international law. The new UN body...

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

The Daily Hustle: One serve at a time – A volleyball player’s journey from Kabul to Toronto In Afghanistan, women face challenges in nearly every aspect of their lives. At times, those obstacles seem insurmountable, especially for women who engage in activities outside the home in fields sti...

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: One serve at a time – A volleyball player’s journey from Kabul to Toronto In Afghanistan, women face challenges in nearly every aspect of their lives. At times, those obstacles seem insurmountable, especially for women who engage in activities outside the home in fields sti...

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