Afghanistan’s Governance

Part one

 

     Afghanistan’s government Organizational Structure and its three branches with their terminologies translated and transliterated in Pashto.

    Afghanistan’s Governance (de Afghanistan hukomaat د افغانستان حکومت)

     Afghanistan’s Government (hukomaatحکومت  ) organization consists of the President (Raees e Jamhoor ریس جمهور) serving as the Chief of State and the Head of the Government, the Council of Ministers (wazers وزیران ) and the National Assembly (loya Jirga لویه جرګه ).   The country is presently led by the administration of Karzai under President Hamid Karzai who is assisted by two vice presidents (de raees mrastyaal د  ریس مرستیال) Mohammad Fahim and Karim Khalili.   In 2004, Afghanistan came up with a new constitution (asasi qhanoon اساسی قانون).  This new constitution gave the office (adarah اداره ) of presidency the executive power. In 2005, a parliamentary election took place in Afghanistan. As a result, after 30 years of war the people of Afghanistan elected a parliament which consisted of two houses, the upper house (sana سنا) and lower house (shura شورا ).

     In 2004, the current president Hamid Karzai was declared the first ever democratically elected head of State in Afghanistan.  Following his first term Mr. Karzai won a second five year term in 2009.

    Afghanistan has a bicameral NationalAssembly (mili shura ملی شورا ) which is Afghanistan’s national legislature (Muqaninah مقننه ), consisting of the lowerHouse (shura or Wolosee Jirga شورا یا ولسی جرګه ) and the Upper House or the House of Elders (sana سنا ).  The first legislative body was elected in 2005 and current one in 2010.

According to the new constitution of Afghanistan an independent organization was created, the Supreme Court (sterah mahkamah ستره محکمه ) of Afghanistan.  The seven members of the Supreme Court of Afghanistan were appointed and nominated by the president of the country.  The constitution also states that “no law shall contravene the tenets and provisions of the holy religion of Islam in Afghanistan”.

 Executive branch (ajrayahاجرایه )-

 The President is the head of the executive (ajrayah اجرایه ) branch.  The executive is the power to execute, enforce, and administer the law.  A strong presidency is created by the constitution of Afghanistan. Once the president is elected with two vice-presidents then the president appoints cabinet Ministers and Governors.

          1- First term (2004 election)

          2- Second term (2009 election)

 Legislative branch (moqaninah موقننه ) –

          Afghanistan follows the legislatives style of western democracies.  The Legislative is the power to make a law and to enframe public policies. However, what is unique about the Afghan legislative is the Loya Jirga (the grand assembly). This body only gets together when the country is at a stage of emergency (esteraree halaatاضطراري حالت )   Members of the loya Jirga gets together in Kabul to decide, Afghan National Interests.  Once their task is accomplished they dissolve their meeting (Jirga جرګه ), and then they go to their local districts for follow ups. Members of the loya Jirga consists of tribal chiefs, notable religious and secular scholars.

 The 2005 parliamentary (shura شورا ) election for the house of the People or the lower House (wolesi Jirga or shura  ولسی جرګه یا شورا ) was conducted on September 18, 2005. “This was the first parliament 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 House of the Elders (meshrano jirga or sana مشرانو جرګه یا سنا ) consists of 102 seats.  34 members are elected to serve a 4 year term and 34 are elected to serve 3 year term by the regional legislatures.  The other 34 members are appointed by the President to serve 5 year term.

 The Afghan Senate consists of two chambers, the upper house is the Senate (sanatoor سناتور) and the lower house is the Shura.   Like the United States the lower house or Shura is a stronger body.  The lower house is mainly responsible for making the laws of the land.  Once the laws are made at the lower house, and then it goes to the upper house (Afghan Senate known as sana) for the second round of approval. Once both chamber of the Parliament makes a particular law then it goes to the president for final approval or veto.

 1- Appointed Members (entesabee انتصابي ): Appointed by the president (Hamed Karzai).

2- Elected Members (entekhabee انتخابي ): Are elected by the People of Afghanistan representing different local districts (woloswali ولسوالي ) throughout Afghanistan

 The Judicial Branch (Qazayah قضایه )-

The constitution of Afghanistan mandates a Supreme Court (sterah mahkamah ستره محکمه ). Like the Supreme Court of the United States the seven members of justice of the Supreme Court, are nominated by the President of the country and after their vote of confidence by the two house of Parliament they become the permanent members of the supreme court of Afghanistan. No one can remove them from their office before their term is expired. The main duty of the Supreme Court of Afghanistan is to interpret the constitution of Afghanistan and those areas where the laws are not clear.