United National Front (Afghanistan)

United National Front
Leader Abdul Rashid Dostum
Founded 2006 (2006)
Ideology National Unity
Electoral reform
Politics of Afghanistan
Political parties
Elections

The Afghanistan National Front is a coalition of various political parties in Afghanistan.[1][2] The group is as a broad coalition of former and current strongmen, commanders from the anti-Soviet resistance, ex-Communist leaders, and various social and ethnic groups.[3] Its leader is former President of Afghanistan Burhanuddin Rabbani. Many of its members were formerly part of the similarly named United Islamic Front (better known as the Northern Alliance).

Reports of when the group was founded vary. Stratfor reported the group was founded on April 3, 2006.[3] Ron Synovitz reported on February 6, 2008 that the group was founded in 2007.[1]

The ANF wants to secure unity in the divided country. It wants to amend the 2003 constitution to allow political parties to stand in elections, to change the electoral system from a single non-transferable vote system to a party-list electoral system and to hold direct elections for provincial governors.[3] Some critics have linked the Front's formation to the calls to investigate war crimes committed during the Afghan Civil War.

Members include Mustafa Zahir (grandson of former king Mohammad Zahir Shah), ex-defense minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim, parliamentary speaker Yunus Qanuni, Vice President Ahmad Zia Massoud, former general Abdul Rashid Dostum, former communist era generals, Sayed Mohammad Gulabzoy and Nur ul-Haq Olumi, and Hezb- Islami commanders, like Qazi Amin Waqad. The Front's exact size is unknown, but it claims to be backed by 40% of Afghanistan's Parliament.

In February 2008 Synovitz reported that members of the United National Front suggested that charges filed against Abdul Rashid Dostum could lead to civil war.[1]

External links

References

  1. ^ a b c Ron Synovitz (February 6, 2008). "Afghanistan: Prosecutor Suggests 'Some People' Cannot Be Tried". Radio Free Europe. http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticleprint/2008/02/122575eb-8f5a-42b2-8dac-d519c58ecbf7.html. Retrieved 2008-02-09. "An opposition political movement to which Dostum belongs also has threatened "catastrophic consequences" if the ethnic-Uzbek general is put on trial. Sayed Hussain Sancharaki is the spokesman for the United National Front of Afghanistan -- a political group formed in 2007 by factional commanders and politicians who had once fought against the Taliban regime as the former Northern Alliance." 
  2. ^ Ron Synovitz (April 5, 2007). "Afghanistan: New Political Bloc Unites Old Adversaries". Radio Free Europe. http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/04/d0dfc5f9-e7de-4027-a98b-022e279abbe3.html. Retrieved 2008-02-09. 
  3. ^ a b c "Afghanistan: The Re-creation of the North-South Divide". Stratfor. April 6, 2006. http://www.stratfor.com/afghanistan_re_creation_north_south_divide. Retrieved 2008-02-09. "Meanwhile, former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani — a Tajik Islamist — announced April 3 the launch of a new political coalition called the United National Front. In addition to former communists, this group includes former mujahideen who participated in the 1979-89 fight against Soviet forces, the 1992-96 intra-Islamist civil war and the 1996-2001 struggle against the Taliban regime." 
Present major parties
Present minor parties
Banned / Former parties