Afghanistan’s history is intimately tied to world politics.  The latest chapter of this relationship is the unprecedented statebuilding project starting in 2001. Despite much significant change in the country, many...

Despite an internationally conveyed image of uncertainty connected to the coming elections in Afghanistan, there is a strong sense of enthusiasm and optimism among many Afghans. Leading Afghan civil society actors hope that the enthusiasm will translate into high voter turn-out on election day.

The current situation in Afghanistan is the subject of two opposing narratives: one is a success story about international support and involvement since 2001; the other is a story where much has gone wrong and everything can only get worse. Agreeing on a narrative that is closer to the truth is crucial when deciding what form Norwegian support and involvement should take in the future, write Arne Strand and Liv Kjølseth.

There has been much debate on whether Afghanistan's informal justice practices should be integrated in the country's official justice system. Who should decide such an issue? Local activists claiming that these practices violate human rights, international researchers arguing that they are an undeniable part of Afghan 'reality' or military actors claiming that informal justice is necessary to win the war against the insurgents?

The Western-led efforts to establish a new post-Taliban order in Afghanistan are in serious trouble, and in this book Astri Suhrke sets out ...

The US military strike that devastated the MSF hospital in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan on 3 October generated profound, if short-lived, outrage in much of the world. The US government promised an investigation, and in late October appointed a military panel to do so. Yet its investigation is unlikely to address the more fundamental questions this attack raises: Why have US-airstrikes repeatedly produced catastrophic cases of “collateral damage” in Afghanistan?

The meeting of the Nordic Foreign Ministers in Stockholm on 18 April 2008 adopted a Plan of Action for Nordic Cooperation in Afghanistan to ...

Et veikart for fred i Afghanistan vil trolig se ut som en floke av tvetydige rutelinjer, men noen har i hvert fall begynt å tegne.I Afghanistan ...

Kabul – September 2016.  The Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI)-Norway and Peace Training and Research Organisation (PTRO) have been ...

Afghanistan has within the span of three years moved from a complex political emergency to a nascent state-building process, a process that ...

The Norwegian government has appointed a committee that will evaluate Norway’s engagement in Afghanistan. The main objective is to review and draw lessons from the operation. Senior researchers Astri Suhrke and Torunn Wimpelmann at CMI will be part of the Commission.

Political ethnographer whose current focus is on the intersections between gender, political and legal orders in contemporary Afghanistan.

Two different and basically conflicting visions of Afghanistan’s post-transition future were discernible by mid-2012. In one, Afghanistan’s ...

"The weakening resolve" in Afghanistan, argues Astri Suhrke, reflects growing European concern that the strategy staked out by Washington may be neither realistic nor desirable.

Etter ti år har det internasjonale prosjektet i Afghanistan oppnådd lite. Fremtiden er usikker for afghanerne. -Vi har skapt en afghansk stat som er helt avhengig av støtte utenfra, sier CMI-forsker Astri Suhrke. Overgangen blir vanskelig. Likevel mener hun at nedbygging av den enorme internasjonale tilstedeværelsen er den eneste løsningen.

Afghanistan has within the span of three years moved from a complex political emergency to a nascent state-building process, a process that ...

Afghanistan was a troubled country in 2001. Not only is Afghanistan one of the poorest countries in the world, but protracted armed conflict ...

Krigen går fra vondt til verre. En overordnet strategi dominert av militær maktbruk har spilt fallitt. Det er tid for en politisk ...

President Karzai has announced that a peace jirga will be held in May this year to discuss ways out of the conflict and President Obama has earlier announced that American forces will start to withdraw in July next year. What does this mean for Afghanistan's future? What are the implications for progressive reforms in Afghanistan? Aziz Hakimi, an Afghan political analyst based in Kabul, and CMI researcher Torunn Wimpelmann Chaudhary present and discusses with chair Astri Suhrke.

Peter Marsden, Jonas Gahr Støre, Kai Eide, Kristian Berg Harpviken, Arne Strand, Orzala Ashraf Nehmat, Kaja Borchrevink, Elisabeth Eide, Laila Bokhari and others explore context, history and current challenges. Welcome to debates, book salons, seminars and discussions with experts on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Krigen i Afghanistan har snart vart i ti år, men konflikten har vart mykje lengre. Afghanistan har vorte ramma av fleire krigar og konfliktar dei siste tiåra, og befolkninga har vore prega sterkt. Kva har utløyst konflikten og kvifor den har vore så vanskeleg å løyse, spør Arne Strand. Religion, ekstremisme, terror, korrupsjon og okkupasjon er viktige tema.