Author, Negotiating Survival: Civilian-Insurgent Relations in Afghanistan @HurstPublishers | Centre for the Study of Armed Groups @ODI_Global @warstudies
Feb 18, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
The best piece I've read on Biden's seizure of Afghan Central Bank assets, from @MohsinAminn
The US is "knocking the legs out from under the country’s banking sector, thwarting the economy and leaving Afghans like me unable to access our savings"
washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/0…
The details are damning. Talk about throwing a match on the way out: halted salaries and frozen accounts, nearly complete projects, like schools and clinics, simply abandoned
Such a counterproductive waste, on so many levels - effort, potential, taxpayer money
Aug 19, 2021 • 13 tweets • 8 min read
I’ve gotten many requests for Taliban analysis or explainers, so here's a 🧵on well-evidenced research and credible sources
(caveat: the Taliban are profoundly unpredictable, as recent events illustrate, and even those who have studied the group deeply are often proved wrong)
A collection of @AANafgh work on life under and with the Taliban: afghanistan-analysts.org/en/dossiers/aa…
Apr 24, 2020 • 14 tweets • 13 min read
@JJSchroden@Afghan_Policy#AFGPanel Thanks! Locked down far away from all this and feeling woefully disconnected but caveats aside, here goes...
The Taliban continues to expand/consolidate control in rural areas. Not breaking news, but the mechanics of Taliban strategy post-deal are worth exploring
@JJSchroden@Afghan_Policy#AFGPanel Even w/o announcing a "spring offensive,” Taliban attacks spiked. Particularly attacks on ANSF/checkpts/convoys/etc, in the North/NE/NW as well as South
Yet they seem to be mostly refraining from real attempts to take key terrain/district centers
Mar 24, 2020 • 20 tweets • 10 min read
You guys: I defended my PhD Friday. Grateful it went ahead (v Skype) - and unbelievably grateful it's finally *done*
Inspired by @dbyman & @azelin I thought I’d tweet out some pieces/authors that made thesis thinking/writing worthwhile, bearable and occasionally even fun
In solitary depths of PhDing, there was no greater relief than finding something that pointed the way out of some conundrum or dark hole I was stuck in
I know the world is falling apart, but recommending good reads seems vaguely helpful? Plus JSTOR is open access now so...
