The government of Afghanistan is currently disputed following the effective collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan during the fall of Kabul to Taliban forces on 15 August 2021 and the subsequent re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which now exercises de facto control over most of the country. On 7 September 2021 the Taliban officials in de facto control of most of Afghanistan announced a new interim government headed by Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund as Prime Minister. The government is subject to the oversight of the Taliban's Supreme Leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada. As of 8 September 2021, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has not yet been formally recognized as the de jure government of Afghanistan by any other country. The representatives appointed by the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan continue to represent the country at the United Nations. These representatives have refused to recognize the Taliban appointed government and have urged other countries to not recognize this government either.
The Afghan Constitution Commission was established October 5, 2002 as required by the Bonn Agreement, which stipulated that a new Afghan constitution be adopted by a loya jirga. The loya jirga was required to convene within eighteen months of the establishment of Afghan Transitional Administration, which was established by the Emergency Loya Jirga in June 2002. After some delay, the proposed Afghan Constitution was presented to President Hamid Karzai on November 3, 2003. A loya jirga began December 14, 2003 in Kabul and was endorsed January 4, 2004.
The president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was constitutionally the head of state and head of government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021) and Commander-in-Chief of the Afghan Armed Forces.
A 502-delegate loya jirga convened in Kabul, Afghanistan, on December 14, 2003, to consider the proposed Afghan Constitution. Originally planned to last ten days, the assembly did not endorse the charter until January 4, 2004. As has been generally the case with these assemblies, the endorsement came by way of consensus rather than a vote. Afghanistan's last constitution was drafted for the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in November 1987.
The Supreme Court of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, known locally as the Stera Mahkama, is the court of last resort of Afghanistan. Under the current Taliban government, the court has no independence or power of judicial review; the supreme leader of Afghanistan holds the ultimate authority to decide and interpret the law and may overturn any decision of any court. The current chief justice is Abdul Hakim Haqqani.
A jirga is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of other ethnic groups who are influenced by them in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Though Afghanistan has had democratic elections throughout the 20th century, the electoral institutions have varied as changes in the political regime have disrupted political continuity. Elections were last held under the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, which was deposed by the Taliban in August 2021. The Taliban dissolved the Elections Commission in December 2021. In May 2022, when asked if the Taliban would hold elections, First Deputy Leader Sirajuddin Haqqani said the question was "premature". All political parties have been banned since August 2023.
The Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan (TISA), also known as the Afghan Transitional Authority, was the name of the temporary transitional government in Afghanistan put in place by the loya jirga in June 2002. The Transitional Authority succeeded the original Islamic State of Afghanistan, and preceded the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021).
The House of Elders or Mesherano Jirga, was the upper house of the bicameral National Assembly of Afghanistan, alongside the lower House of the People. It was effectively dissolved when the Taliban seized power on 15 August 2021. The Taliban did not include the House of Elders and several other agencies of the former government in its first national budget in May 2022. Government spokesman Innamullah Samangani said that due to the financial crisis, only active agencies were included in the budget, and the excluded ones had been dissolved, but noted they could be brought back "if needed."
The National Assembly, also known as the Parliament of Afghanistan or simply as the Afghan Parliament, was the legislature of Afghanistan in various forms from the monarchy, republican, communist and liberal democratic periods between 1931 and 2021. It was a bicameral body, comprising two chambers:
Engineer is an honorific used in Afghanistan, which is commonly translated into English, rather than being transliterated, like "Mullah" or "Maulvi".
Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced the holding of a consultative grand council called the Afghanistan's National Consultative Peace Jirga (NCPJ) or Peace Jirga in his inauguration speech on 19 November 2009, after winning elections for a second term, to end the ongoing Taliban insurgency. At the International Afghanistan Conference in London on 28 January 2010, he announced that the government would hold the event in April or May 2010, intended to bring together tribal elders, officials and local power brokers from around the country, to discuss peace and the end of the insurgency. "Jirga" is a word in the Pashto language that means "large assembly" or "council". It is a traditional method in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan of resolving disputes between tribes or discussing problems affecting whole communities.
An emergency loya jirga was held in Kabul, Afghanistan between 11 and 19 June 2002 to elect a transitional administration. The loya jirga was called for by the Bonn Agreement and Bush administration. The agreement was drawn up in December 2001 in Germany. Conducted under United Nations auspices, the talks at Bonn sought a solution to the problem of government in Afghanistan after the US ousted the Taliban government.
The First Karzai cabinet lead the administration of Afghanistan between 2004, the year Hamid Karzai won the first Afghan presidential election and 2009 when the second presidential election took place. In 2006 there was a major cabinet reshuffle. The first Karzai cabinet followed the Afghan Transitional Administration which was put in place by the 2002 loya jirga. Karzai announced the names of the cabinet on 23 December 2004. The cabinet was sworn in on 24 December 2002 and held its first cabinet meeting on 27 December. This cabinet consisted of 27 ministers, including two women.
Afghan leaders who met at the December 2001 Bonn Conference which picked Hamid Karzai to lead the Afghan Transitional Authority also agreed that a Constitutional Loya Jirga should be convened to draft a new constitution.
The 1964 Constitution of Afghanistan was the supreme law of the Kingdom of Afghanistan from 1964 to 1973. It was annulled following a coup d'état, though parts of the constitution were restored by future governments from 2002 to 2004 and from 2021 to 2022. It was drafted by a committee of foreign-educated Afghans, including Sardar Abdul Hakim Ziai and Sardar Abdul Rahim Ziai, appointed for the task by the Afghan King, Mohammad Zahir Shah. The primary goals of the Constitution were to prepare the government and the people for gradual movement toward democracy and socioeconomic modernization. It also acknowledged freedom of assembly, freedom of association, and freedom of speech. A Loya jirga had debated, modified and approved its innovations, which included a bill of rights for all Afghans, explicitly including women. After public review, the constitution was put into effect in October 1964.
Muhammad Sarwar Danish is an Afghan academic and politician in exile who was the second vice president of Afghanistan, from 2014 to 2021. He was previously the acting minister of justice from 2004 to 2010 and acting minister of higher education from 2010 to 2014. When Daykundi province was carved out of Urozgan province in 2004, Danish became its first governor.
Sayed Nasruddin Mohseni is a politician of Afghanistan. He is a leader of the Hizb e Wahadat e Islami—a party that serves members of Hazara ethnic group, who are from Islam's Sh'ia minority.
Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi is an Uzbek legislator and politician from Afghanistan.
Humayun Azizi is an Afghan physician who served as governor of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, from April 2015 until 2017. He has previously been state minister for parliamentary affairs. He has been Afghanistan's Ambassador to the Netherlands since August 2017.
