Politics of Afghanistan

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Afghanistan

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Politics of Afghanistan

Constitution
President: Hamid Karzai
Vice President
Cabinet of Ministers
House of the People
House of Elders
Chief Justice
Supreme Court
Elections

Political Parties

Governors

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In recent years the Politics of Afghanistan has been dominated by the 2001 U.S.-led invasion and the subsequent efforts to stablise and democratise the country. As of 2005 the system of government in Afghanistan is in transition. A new constitution has been adopted, and an executive president democratically elected, and parliamentary elections took place in September 2005. The current president Hamid Karzai became the first ever democratically elected head of state in Afghanistan in late 2004. He now has begun the process of reconstruction. Still, the country lacks a legislature. Elections for this branch of government will be finished by mid 2005. The members of the Supreme Court was appointed recently by the president to form the judiciary. Together, this new system will provide a new set of checks and balances that was unheard of in the country. Also, the system is quite new, implementation of which began only 2004, just after decades of war between different factions and warlords. The remnants of the warlords are almost non existent. Afghanistan political development may be, arguably, the fastest in recent history. The United Nations and other governments and organizations play a vital role rebuilding this new democracy's political environment.

Contents

Historical background

The Former Taliban Regime

On September 27, 1996, the ruling members of the Afghan Government were displaced by members of the Islamic Taliban movement. The Taliban declared themselves the legitimate government of Afghanistan; however, the UN continued to recognize the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference left the Afghan seat vacant until the question of legitimacy could be resolved through negotiations among the warring factions.

By the time of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan after the September 11 terrorist attacks only Pakistan recognized the Taliban government, though Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had in the past.

The Taliban occupied 95% of the territory, called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The remaining 5% belonged to the rebel forces constituting the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, which the United Nations had recognized as the official government in exile.

U.S.-led Invasion

After the Taliban's refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden to the US for his suspected involvement in the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, a US-led international coalition was formed; after several weeks of aerial bombardment by coalition forces and military action on the ground, including Afghan opposition forces, the Taliban was ousted from power on 17 November 2001.

Bonn Agreement

In December 2001, a number of prominent Afghans met under UN auspices in Bonn, Germany, to decide on a plan for governing the country; as a result, the Afghan Interim Authority (AIA) - made up of 30 members, headed by a chairman - was inaugurated on 22 December 2001 with a six-month mandate to be followed by a two-year Transitional Authority (TA), after which elections are to be held. Some provisions in the agreement have expired, due to the creation of the constitution. Still, the agreement paved the way for the creation of a democratic Afghanistan.

Approval by the Loya Jirga

The structure of the Transitional Authority was announced on 10 June 2002, when the Loya Jirga (Grand Assembly) convened establishing the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan (TISA), which has 18 months to hold a constitutional Loya Jirga to adopt a constitution and 24 months to hold nationwide elections. The Loya Jirga was replaced by the National Assembly.

Political Statistics

Country names:

  • conventional long form: Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
  • conventional short form: Afghanistan
  • local long form: Dowlat-e Eslami-ye Afghanestan
  • local short form: Afghanestan

Former names:

ISO 3166-1 country code: AF

Government type: democratic republic

Capital: Kabul

Administrative divisions: See Provinces of Afghanistan

Elections

Presidential elections were held on October 9, 2004. The winner was Hamid Karzai. Parliamentary elections were held on September 18, 2005. The results have not yet been determined.

Presidential election Results

Legislative Branch

The 2005 Parliamentary Election for the Wolesi Jirga or House of the People were conducted on 18 September 2005. This was the first parliamentary election in Afghanistan since 1969. 2707 candidates, including 328 women, competed for 249 seats. The election was conducted with multiple seat electoral constituencies. Each province is a constituency and has a varying number of seats, depending on population. Voters have a single non-transferable vote. Provisional results are not expected until 10 October.

The Meshrano Jirga or House of the Elders will consist of an undetermined amount of members. One-third of the members will be appointed by the president, while another third will be elected by the provincial councils. Elections for the provincial councils were held simultaneously with those for the Wolesi Jirga. The remaining third is supposed to be elected by district councils. However, elections for the district councils have been postponed, meaning that one-third of the seats in the Meshrano Jirga will be vacant when it assembles.

Despite Taliban and other anti-government forces stating they intended to disrupt the elections the polling day went by with minimal violence, although a number of candidates were murdered before the election. Early reports indicated that turnout was down on the Presidential Election, but still high.

Constitution

The Bonn Agreement called for a loya jirga to be convened. This body ratified a constitution in early 2004. It creates a strong Presidency and a bicameral legislative branch.

Legal system and Judiciary

The Constitution of Afghanistan mandates a Supreme Court. Other minor courts were created too, such as high courts, appeals courts, and other district Courts.

Government

These are the ministers and other officials of the Afghan government. See also Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

  • President H.E. Hamid Karzai
  • Vice President (First) Ahmad Zia Massoud
  • Vice President (Second) Karim Khalili
  • Commerce Minister and Senior Advisor to the President Hedayat Amin Arsala
  • Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah
  • Defence Minister General Abdurrahim Wardak
  • Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali
  • Planning Minister Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq
  • Finance Minister Anwar-ul Haq Ahadi
  • Education Minister Noor Mohmamad Qarqin
  • Borders & Tribal Affairs Minister Abdul Karim Brahui
  • Economics Minister Dr. M. Amin Farhang
  • Mines and Industries Minister Engineer Mir Mohmmad Sediq
  • Women's Affairs Minister Dr. Masouda Jalal
  • Public Health Minister Dr. Sayed Mohammad Amin Fatemi
  • Agriculture Minister Obaidullah Ramin
  • Justice Minister Sarwar Danish
  • Communications Minister Engineer Amirzai Sangeen
  • Information & Culture Minister Dr. Said Makhdoom Rahin
  • Refugees Affairs Minister Dr. Azam Dadfar
  • Haj and Religious Affairs Minister Professor Nematullah Shahrani
  • Urban Affairs Minister Eng. Yusuf Pashtun
  • Public Work Minister Dr. Suhrab Ali Safari
  • Water and Power Minister A. Shaker Kargar
  • Labor and Social Affairs Minister Sayed Ekramuddin Masoomi
  • Energy Minister General Mohammad Ismael
  • Martyrs and Disabled Minister Sediqa Balkhi
  • Higher Education Minister Sayed Amir Shah Hassanyar
  • Transportation Minister Dr. Enayatullah Qasemi
  • Rural Development and Rehabilitation Minister Hanif Atmar
  • Counter-Narcotics Minister Habibullah Qadery
  • National Security Advisor Dr. Zalmai Rassoul
  • Supreme Court Chief Justice Sheikh Hadi Shinwari

Political Parties and Leaders

NA; note - political parties in Afghanistan are in flux and many prominent players have plans to create new parties; the government of Hamid Karzai includes members of numerous factions and parties. As of the 2005 Parliamentary Election, political parties are not legally recognised and canidates must run as independents, although parties can support candidates who are members.

Political pressure groups and leaders

NA; note - ministries formed under the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan (TISA) include former influential Afghans, diaspora members, and former political leaders

  • Afghan refugees in Pakistan, Australia, the United States, and elsewhere have organized politically
  • Pakistan-based groups such as the Coordination Council for National

Unity and Understanding in Afghanistan or CUNUA (leader Ishaq Gailani

  • Tribal leader represent traditional Pashtun leadership
  • Writers Union of Free Afghanistan or WUFA [Rasul Amin]

International organization participation

AsDB, CP, ECO, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, GUUAM, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOM (observer), ITU, NAM, OIC, OPCW (signatory), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WToO

External Links

  • Election results
  • Afghan Voice.com claims to be "an independent and neutral entity that represents the voice of all Afghans and is not associated with any particular group or political party." It seems to emphasize chat rooms and message boards, with links to headlines and Internet radio reports.
  • Afghanistan News.net has good links to headlines and news sources, although it's not clear who's running the site, or why: "Afghanistan News.net does not operate in Afghanistan nor does it have any ties there. It is part of a Worldwide network of News.net online news services established to provide visitors with updating news and information about every country and key city throughout Asia," the site says. Domain name registered to Independent Press, Inc., of Roy, Utah, and admin/technical contact works for "Vanilla Limited" of the United Arab Emirates.
  • Afghanistan Online says it is "a privately owned, independent web site that provides updated news and information on Afghanistan," with a mailing address in Pleasanton, CA. Its Afghan Online Press compiles news articles from other sources.
  • Afghanistan Reconstruction, featuring documents on development and technology, is part of the Development Gateway website. The DG Foundation, which runs the site, "is a not-for-profit organization currently based in Washington DC. Its mission is to reduce poverty and support sustainable development through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT)."
  • The CIA's World Factbook entry on Afghanistan was the basis for most of earlier versions of this article.
  • Islamic Transitional State of Afghanistan website appears to be run by the United Nations Development Programme (its "About Us" link doesn't work but a UNDP email address is mentioned). It includes budget documents and links to website sections for various Afghan government and UN agencies.
  • Library of Congress Selected Internet Resources on Afghanistan provides links to various sites and documents, including a country study of Afghanistan, which covers events up to 1995.
  • ReliefWeb's Afghanistan section includes news and NGO reports on the Afghan situation. "ReliefWeb is a project of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)," according to the site's homepage.
  • United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan was established in March 2003 "in an effort to integrate all UN activities in Afghanistan. There are some 16 UN agencies in the country working together with their Afghan government counterparts and with national and international NGO partners," the site indicates. The links page is extensive, mainly listing sites of other UN agencies.
  • U.S. State Department's Background Note on Afghanistan, besides the requisite statistics, includes detailed summaries of country's history, economics, government and foreign relations.
  • Afghan travel guide giving a glimpse of current life in the country.
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