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The politics of Afghanistan consists of the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly, with a president serving as the head of state and commander-in-chief of the military. The nation is currently led by the Karzai administration under President Hamid Karzai who is backed by two vice presidents, Mohammed Fahim and Karim Khalili. In the last decade the politics of Afghanistan have been heavily influenced by NATO countries, especially by the United States, in an effort to stabilise and democratise the country. In 2004, the nation's new constitution was adopted and an executive was president elected. The following year a general election to choose parliamentarians took place.
The current president Hamid Karzai was declared the first ever democratically elected head of state in Afghanistan in 2004, winning a second five-year term in 2009. The National Assembly is Afghanistan's national legislature. It is a bicameral body, composed of the House of the People and the House of Elders. The first legislature was elected in 2005 and the current one in 2010. Members of the Supreme Court were appointed by the president to form the judiciary. Together, this new system is to provide a new set of checks and balances that was unheard of in the country.
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Government operation in Afghanistan historically has consisted of power struggles, bloody coups and unstable transfers of power. The country has been governed by many systems of government, including a monarchy, republic, theocracy, dictatorship, and a pro-communist state.
Afghanistan is an Islamic republic consisting of three branches of power (executive, legislative, and judiciary) overseen by checks and balances. It is currently led by the Karzai administration under President Hamid Karzai, who was elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2009. Before the election of 2004, Karzai led the country after being chosen by delegates of the Bonn Conference in December 2001 to head an interim government after the removal of the Taliban Emirate. While supporters have praised Karzai's efforts to promote national reconciliation and a growing economy, critics charge him with failing to stem corruption and the drug trade, and the slow pace of reconstruction.
The current parliament was elected in 2005 and then in 2010. Among the elected officials are former mujahideen, Islamic fundamentalists, reformists, communists, and sveral Taliban members. About 28% of the delegates elected were women, 3% more than the 25% minimum guaranteed under the constitution. This made Afghanistan, long known under the Taliban for its oppression of women, one of the leading countries in terms of female representation.
The Supreme Court of Afghanistan is led by Chief Justice Abdul Salam Azimi. Dominated by fundamentalist religious figures, it has tried to ban a candidate in the 2004 presidential election for questioning polygamy laws, and limited the rights of women, as well as overstepped its constitutional authority by issuing rulings on subjects not yet brought before the court.
In September 1996, government officials of the Islamic State of Afghanistan under Burhanuddin Rabbani were displaced by forces of the Taliban. The United Nations refused to recognize the Taliban government, instead it recognized the Islamic State as the official government government in exile. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference left the Afghan seat vacant until the question of legitimacy could be resolved through negotiations among the warring factions. The Taliban occupied 95% of the territory by 2001 and only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates recognized them as a government. The remaining 5% belonged to the rebel forces called the Northern Alliance (or United Front).
After the Taliban's refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden to U.S. authorities for his suspected involvement in the 11 September 2001 attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., 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 officially ousted from power on November 17, 2001.
In December 2001, a number of prominent Afghans met under the United Nations auspices in Germany to decide on a plan for governing the country. As a result, the Afghan Interim Administration (AIA) - made up of 30 members, headed by a chairman - was inaugurated on December 22, 2001, with a six-month mandate to be followed by a two-year Afghan Transitional Administration (ATA), 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.
The United Nations Security Council authorized the creation of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to help provide basic security for Afghanistan. Members of the United States armed forces and NATO countries began sending troops to Afghanistan since late 2001 to early 2011, at a time when the total number of foreign soldiers reached about 150,000. In the meantime the newly-trained Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police reached over 200,000 by 2011.
The structure of the Transitional Authority was announced on June 10, 2002, when an emergency loya jirga (grand assembly) convened establishing the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan (TISA), which had 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.
Under the Bonn Agreement the Afghan Constitution Commission was established to consult with the public and formulate a draft constitution. The meeting of a constitutional loya jirga was held in December 2003, when a new constitution was adopted creating a presidential form of government with a bicameral legislature: the House of Elders (Meshrano Jirga) and the House of the People (Wolesi Jirga).
The 2004 presidential election was held on October 9, with over 10 million Afghans being registered to vote. Many of the candidates running against Hamid Karzai tried to boycott the election because they feared irregularities. However, Karzai made this statement to the media:
"It is too late to call for a boycott now that millions of Afghans have come from their homes despite rain and snow and they have voted... We should respect the people's will. I'm very delighted that all over Afghanistan, with the help of God, people with a lot of happiness and enthusiasm went to ballot boxes and voted. This shows the political understanding of Afghans and their will for a peaceful future."[2]—Hamid Karzai, October 9, 2004
An independent commission found evidence of fraud, but ruled that it did not affect the outcome of the poll and Karzai won with 55.4% of the vote.[3] He was inaugurated as President on December 7 of that year. It was the country's first national election since 1969, when parliamentary elections were last held.
On September 18, 2005, parliamentary elections were held; the parliament opened after the results were announced. On December 20 Karzai's close ally and president of the first mujahideen government, Sibghatullah Mojadeddi, was picked to head the 102-seat upper house. On December 21, Yunus Qanuni, Afghan opposition leader and Karzai's main opponent was chosen to lead the 249-seat lower house of parliament with 122 votes against 117 for his closest challenge.
The constitution of Afghanistan creates a strong presidency. A president is elected with two Vice-presidents. The president appoints cabinet ministers and governors.
The United States is the leading nation in the rebuilding and democratization of Afghanistan. United States-Afghanistan relations have improved since late 2001, especially after the Karzai administration was formed. Foreign relations of Afghanistan with other NATO members and neighboring or regional countries have also improved under the Karzai adiministration.
After winning the 2004 election and removing many of the former Northern Alliance warlords from his cabinet, it was thought that Karzai would pursue a more aggressively reformist path in 2005 but he proved to be more cautious. Ever since Karzai's new administration took over in 2004, the economy of Afghanistan has been growing rapidly for the first time in many years. Government revenue is increasing every year, although it is still heavily dependent on foreign aid. During the Karzai administration, public discontent grew about corruption and the civilian casualties in the fight against the Taliban insurgency.
Two months after the 2009 election, Karzai was officially declared the winner.[4][5] The Obama administration urged Karzai to exclude ineffective or corrupt officials from the new government, while powerful Afghans who helped deliver his re-election were demanding positions.[6] According to political analysts, the list of ministers Karzai presented to the Parliament was "not encouraging", but it reflected realpolitik. Slightly more than half were ministers who would stay in their current positions or who had served previously in Karzai’s government.[7] On January 2, 2009, the Afghan Parliament rejected 17 of President Karzai's 24 cabinet nominees, approving only seven.
The 2005 parliamentary election for the Wolesi Jirga (House of the People) were conducted on September 18, 2005. This was the first parliamentary election in Afghanistan since 1969. Approximately 2,707 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.
The Meshrano Jirga (House of Elders) consists of 102 members. One-third of the members were appointed by the president, while another third was 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.
The first presidential election under the new constitution was held on October 9, 2004. Interim-president Karzai had enough votes to avoid a run-off.
| Candidates (Ethnic background) - Nominating party | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| Hamid Karzai (Pashtun) | 4,443,029 | 55.4% |
| Yunus Qanuni (Tajik) - New Afghanistan Party | 1,306,503 | 16.3% |
| Mohammed Mohaqiq (Hazara) - Independent (Wahdat Islamic Unity Party) | 935,325 | 11.7% |
| Abdul Rashid Dostum (Uzbek) - Independent (National Islamic Movement) | 804,861 | 10.0% |
| Abdul Latif Pedram (Tajik) - National Congress Party | 110,160 | 1.4% |
| Massouda Jalal (Tajik) | 91,415 | 1.1% |
| Sayed Ashaq Gailani* (Pashtun) - National Solidarity Movement | 80,081 | 1.0% |
| Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai (Pashtun) - Independent (Islamic Revolutionary Movement) | 60,199 | 0.8% |
| Abdul Satar Sirat (Uzbek) | 30,201 | 0.4% |
| Hamyon Shah Aasifi (Pashtun) - Independent (National Unity Party) | 26,224 | 0.3% |
| Ghulam Farooq Nejrabi (Tajik) - Afghan Independence Party | 24,232 | 0.3% |
| Sayed Abdul Hadi Dabir (Tajik) | 24,057 | 0.3% |
| Abdul Hafiz Mansoor (Tajik) - Independent (Islamic Society) | 19,728 | 0.2% |
| Abdul Hadi Khalilzai (Pashtun) | 18,082 | 0.2% |
| Mir Mahfuz Nedahi (Pashtun) | 16,054 | 0.2% |
| Mohammed Ibrahim Rashid (Pashtun) | 14,242 | 0.2% |
| Wakil Mangal (Pashtun) | 11,770 | 0.1% |
| Abdul Hasib Aarian* (Tajik) | 8,373 | 0.1% |
| Total Valid Votes (turnout 70%) | 8,024,536 | 100.0% |
| Invalid Votes | 104,404 | |
| Total Votes | 8,128,940 |
Afghanistan held parliamentary elections on 18 September 2005. First results were announced on 9 October and final results on 12 November 2005. Since all candidates were not listed by party and elected as non-partisans, a breakdown by party was not possible. Turnout was estimated at about 50 percent.
| Candidates | Seats |
|---|---|
| Non-partisans | 249 |
| Total | 249 |
The 2009 presidential election was characterized by lack of security, low voter turnout and widespread ballot stuffing, intimidation, and other electoral fraud.[8][9][10]
The vote, along with elections for 420 provincial council seats, took place on August 20, 2009, but remained unresolved during a lengthy period of vote counting and fraud investigation.[11]
Two months later, under heavy U.S. and ally pressure, a second round run-off vote between incumbent President Hamid Karzai and his main rival Abdullah Abdullah was announced for November 7, 2009. On November 1, however, Abdullah announced that he would no longer be participating in the run-off because his demands for changes in the electoral commission had not been met, and a "transparent election is not possible." A day later, on November 2, 2009, officials of the election commission cancelled the run-off and declared Hamid Karzai as President of Afghanistan for another 5 year term.[9][10]
| Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamid Karzai | 2,283,907 | 49.67 | ||
| Abdullah Abdullah | 1,406,242 | 30.59 | ||
| Ramazan Bashardost | 481,072 | 10.46 | ||
| Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai | 135,106 | 2.94 | ||
| Mirwais Yasini | 47,511 | 1.03 | ||
| Shahnawaz Tanai | 29,648 | 0.64 | ||
| Frozan Fana | 21,512 | 0.47 | ||
| Abdul Salam Rocketi | 19,997 | 0.43 | ||
| Habib Mangal | 18,746 | 0.41 | ||
| Motasim Billah Mazhabi | 18,248 | 0.40 | ||
| Abdul Latif Pedram | 15,462 | 0.34 | ||
| Mohammad Sarwar Ahmadzai | 14,273 | 0.31 | ||
| Sayed Jalal Karim | 13,489 | 0.29 | ||
| Shahla Atta | 10,687 | 0.23 | ||
| Mahbob-U-lah Koshani | 10,255 | 0.22 | ||
| Alhaj Abdul Ghafor Zori | 9,286 | 0.20 | ||
| Rahim Jan Shinzad | 7,197 | 0.16 | ||
| Zabih-U-llah Ghazi Noristani | 6,284 | 0.14 | ||
| Abdul Jabar Sabet | 6,190 | 0.13 | ||
| Mohammad Hashem Taufiqui | 5,043 | 0.11 | ||
| Bismillah Shir | 4,550 | 0.10 | ||
| Ghulam Faroq Nijrabi | 4,528 | 0.10 | ||
| Abdul Hasib Arian | 4,472 | 0.10 | ||
| Moin-ul-din Ulfati | 3,518 | 0.08 | ||
| Gul Ahmmad Yama | 3,221 | 0.07 | ||
| Ghulam Mohammad Rigi | 3,180 | 0.07 | ||
| Mohammad Akbar Oria | 2,991 | 0.07 | ||
| Bashir Ahmad Bizhan | 2,457 | 0.05 | ||
| Sangin Mohammad Rahmani | 2,434 | 0.05 | ||
| Hedayat Amin Arsala | 2,346 | 0.05 | ||
| Abdul Majid Samim | 2,198 | 0.05 | ||
| Zia-ul-haq Hafizi | 1,679 | 0.04 | ||
| Valid votes (turnout % and %) | 4,597,727 | 100.00 | ||
| Invalid votes | 225,363 | 4.67 | ||
| Total votes | 4,823,090 | 100.00 | ||
| Source: IEC | ||||
The constitution of Afghanistan mandates a Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in Afghanistan, and is he court of last resort. Judges are appointed by the President, and confirmed by the Afghan National Assembly. Lower courts included magistrate courts, Courts of First Instance, and Intermediate Court of Appeals. Intermediate court of Appeals review decisions of lower courts, before appeals are sent to the Supreme Court. If an appeal loses, they can be sent to the Supreme Court. Courts of First Instance exist in every city. They have several branches which tries all major cases. The branches include Criminal, Civil, Religious, Administrative, Labor, and Family divisions. Also in the first instance include military courts, which try military personals. Magistrate Courts are at the lowest level, which try minor civil and criminal cases.
Political parties in Afghanistan are in flux and many prominent players have plans to create new ones. As of the 2005 Parliamentary Election, political parties are not legally recognised and candidates must run as independents, although parties can support candidates who are members.
Main parties seem to be:
Other minor parties are:
Afghanistan is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Colombo Plan, the Economic Cooperation Organization, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Group of 77, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Criminal Court, ICRM, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the Islamic Development Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the International Finance Corporation, IFRCS, ILO, International Monetary FundIMF, Interpol, IOC (suspended), IOM (observer), ITU, NAM, OIC, OPCW (signatory), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WToO
Afghanistan has received $892.28 million in lending since joining the Asian Development Bank (ADB) at its founding in 1966 and is ADB’s 17th largest borrower. ADB suspended its operations in Afghanistan from 1992 to 2002. Significant international engagement with Afghanistan resumed in 2001 following the ouster of the Taliban regime. In 2001 and 2002, ADB, the World Bank, and the United Nations assessed the country's critical rehabilitation and development needs: at the 2002 Tokyo Conference, ADB pledged loan and grant assistance of some $500 million over 2.5 years, beginning with a $167.18 million Postconflict Multisector Program loan, the first loan by an international financial institution to the country in more than 23 years.
In 2004, ADB pledged up to $800 million in Asian Development Fund (ADF) loans and grants for 2005–2008, while at the 2006 London Conference indicated its intention to provide up to $200 million per year in ADF funding through 2010. ADB’s support has focused on building national capacity, establishing policy and institutional frameworks, and rehabilitating infrastructure. At the request of the Afghan authorities, ADB loan and grant-financed projects and programs and related technical assistance are focused on the road [transport, energy, agriculture and natural resource management, and governance and financial sectors. Private sector support has focused on loans and investments in the telecommunications and banking sectors.
Afghanistan became a member of the World Bank in 1955. Shortly after the Soviet invasion in 1979, World Bank operations were suspended, and the resident mission in Kabul was closed, although the Bank continued to provide assistance to Afghans through its office in neighboring Pakistan. The Bank resumed operations in Afghanistan in May 2002 to help meet the immediate needs of the poorest people while assisting the government in developing the administrative systems required for longer-term nationwide development.
Prior to 1979, the World Bank had provided 21 no-interest loans, known as "credits" to Afghanistan across a wide range of areas including education, roads, and agriculture. Of the original $230 million in credits approved under IDA, $83 million was disbursed and $147 million was subsequently canceled. Afghanistan had repaid $9.2 million to IDA and was up to date on debt service payments until June 1992, when it stopped making payments.
In 2003, Afghanistan was able to clear its debt to the World Bank, in part with the help of Japan, the UK, Sweden, Norway, and Italy, who contributed to a trust fund for this purpose. Additional funds from the multi-donors, which is administered by the World Bank, helped to clear the remaining arrears, allowing Afghanistan to become eligible for loans for projects designed to help meet the country's longer-term development needs.
The ARTF has emerged as one of the main instruments for financing the country’s recurrent budget and investment support for Afghanistan. To date, more than $1.37 billion has been contributed to the ARTF by 24 donors.
Since 2002, the bank has financed 21 projects, committing around $1.13 billion, of which $696.8 million is in grants and $436.4 in interest-free credits. Two budget support operations and an emergency public works project have been completed so far. commitments of approximately $26 million for the fiscal year 2007 (July 2006 - June 2007) will be entirely in grants. The Bank-funded projects mostly support rural livelihoods by providing job opportunities, rebuilding infrastructure, education and basic health services.
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