AFGHANISTAN RESEARCH GUIDE

Compiled by Rachel E. Ingber

Due to the renewed interest in Afghanistan over the past six months, a glut of high-tech and welldesigned sites dedicated to the conflict and the political situation have emerged or have been
updated. But just as the country is in flux, internet sites dedicated to the nation are also changing
constantly. Many of the links on these sites are out of date (i.e., the official Taliban website has
been shut down). I have tried to mention sites that have lasting value but which also contain upto-date news and analysis on the current crisis. (Therefore, I have not included compilations by
news organizations that sprang up in the post-September 11 environment.)

General
Afghanistan On-line: http://www.afghan-web.com has sections on culture, economics,
geography, language, history and religion as well as a full set of links and updated daily news.
Compiled by supporters of Jamiat-i-Islami, which was part of the United Front, this site is a good
first stop for basic information.
Eurasia Net: http://www.eurasianet.org/resource/afghanistan/index.shtml is a resource page put
together by Eurasia Net, a division of the Open Society Institute. This is a very useful and easy to
use site containing basic information, up-to-date news, human rights reports and analysis of
current events.
Watan Afghanistan: http://www.afghanan.net contains a bunch of links to sites and information
about history, languages and tribes, biographies of prominent people, Islam, weather,
photographs, news and lots more.
Sabawoon: http://www.sabawoon.com is a compilation of the latest news and editorials
compiled from magazines, newspapers and NGO publications, an online journal, art gallery and
an encyclopedia about Afghanistan containing historical, economic and cultural information.

Politics and Diplomacy

Political Resources on the Web: http://www.politicalresources.net/afghanistan.htm contains
information and links on elections, political parties and law. Hopefully this site will be updated
with information about the new government. Political organizations of note included in the site
are:
Hezb-E-Islami: http://www.hezb-e-islami.org is the official website of the Islamic Party
describing its political framework, including legislative reforms, foreign policy, economy and
history.
Afghanistans Liberation Organization: http://www.a-l-o.org is the website of Afghanistans
communist party and contains policy statements and historical information.

Royal House of Afghanistan: http://www.ifrance.com/zaher-shah//index.html contains limited

information about the monarchy and loya jirga (the grand assembly" or traditional Afghan crisis
resolution method).
.
United Nations: For information on the Bonn talks on the Afghan provisional government, see
http://www.uno.de/frieden/afghanistan/talks.htm or for information on United Nations projects
and reconstruction efforts for Afghanistan in general, see the United Nations website at:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusRel1.asp?infocusID=16&Body=Afghanistan.

Research Institutes
NYUs Center for International Cooperation: http://www.nyu.edu/pages/cic/projects has links
(found on the bottom under the heading Reconstruction of Afghanistan) to several websites and
articles affiliated with and or written by Barnett Rubin, director of studies at the center and an
expert on Afghanistan.
Institute for Afghan Studies: http://www.institute-for-afghan-studies.org contains a
comprehensive compilation of historical information, analysis and bibliographies. Built by a
non-profit, non-political and independent organization, founded and run by young Afghan
scholars from around the globe, this site is well-designed and easy to use.
Center for Afghanistan Studies: http://www.unomaha.edu/~world/cas/cas.html is the only
institutional base in the United States exclusively concerned with Afghanistan affairs and its
website contains country data (economics, history, stats) and limited analysis.
Afghanistan Research Group: http://afghanistan-rg.de.vu is a site compiled by Central
European scholars and contains overviews and analysis in English and German.

Media
Afghanistan News: http://afghanistannews.net has updated headlines and news from a variety of
print media and wire sources in English as well as links to other news sources and archives. Also
try, the Afghan News Network: http://www.myafghan.com.
Afgha Press Agency: http://www.afgha.com also has updated news and analysis from around the
world. This site was originally dedicated entirely to Ahmad Shah Massoud of the United Front.
Central Asian Mirror: http://www.saeedi.4t.com places Afghanistan in the context of Central
Asia and contains updated news and analysis about Afghanistan and its Central Asian neighbors.

Culture

Lemar-Aftab: http://www.afghanmagazine.com is a very pretty e-zine emphasizing Afghani

politics, film, music, art literature and the life of the Afghani people.
Afghan Network: http://www.afghan-network.net contains extensive information about Afghani
literature, people and culture as well as links to the NGOs operating in Afghanistan.

NGOs
Relief Web: Compiled by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, this site
contains up-to-date information on humanitarian assistance programs in Afghanistan, including
financial tracking, UN documents, NGO reports and news articles from the international press.
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/vLCE/Afghanistan?
OpenDocument&StartKey=Afghanistan&Expandview
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan: http://rawa.fancymarketing.net is
the website for an organization of Afghan women fighting for human rights and for social justice
in Afghanistan
Womens Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan: http://www.wapha.org
contains some decent resources about the treatment of women in Afghanistan as well as poems
and art.

Religious and Ethnic Communities

Hazara community: http://www.hazara.net contains news, links and information about the
Hazaras in Afghanistan.
Hindu community: http://afghanhindu.freeservers.com with historical and religious information
about the Hindus in Afghanistan.

More Links
INCORE: http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/cds/countries/afghan.html is a guide to internet sources
on the conflict in Afghanistan compiled by a joint United Nations-University of Ulster project
dedicated to the resolution of conflict. This site contains a vast collection of documents, articles
and analysis.
Afghanistan Studies: http://www.academicinfo.net/afghan.html contains a decent list of sites
from NGOs and media organizations to political parties as well as information on the Taliban,
bin Laden and al-Qaeda.