 |
| Afghanistan |
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.
Military of Afghanistan
The military of Afghanistan is composed of the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Army Air Force (formerly the Afghan Air Force). Being a landlocked country, Afghanistan has no navy, and the private security forces who are sometimes seen wearing military uniforms are not part of Afghanistan's military. The President of Afghanistan is the commander-in-chief of the military, acting through the Afghan Ministry of Defense. The Afghan military is headquartered at the National Military Command Center in Kabul. The military currently has around 150,000 active soldiers, with plans to reach 260,000 by 2014.
The Afghan military existed since the early 18th century when the Hotaki dynasty rose to power followed by the Durrani Empire. The Afghan military was constantly involved in wars with Persia and the British Raj from the 18th to the 19th century. The modern military force of the country was first organized in 1880s, when the country was ruled by Amir Abdur Rahman Khan. It was upgraded during King Amanullah Khan's rule in the early 20th century, and modernized during King Zahir Shah's rule from 1933 to 1973. During the 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan, the army was fighting with mujahideen rebels. By 1992, the military of Afghanistan became dysfunctional, dissolving into portions controlled by different warlord factions when President Najibullah was forced out of power and the mujahideen rebel groups took control over the country. This era was later followed by the rise of the Taliban, who established a military force on the basis of Islamic sharia law.
Following the US-led invasion and the removal of the Taliban government in late 2001, the military of Afghanistan is being reformed by NATO military alliance, mainly by the United States armed forces. Despite early problems with recruitment and training, it is becoming effective in fighting against the Taliban insurgency. As of 2007, it is slowly becoming able to operate independently from NATO troops, most of whom are grouped under the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama announced in 2009 that they would increase the number of Afghan troops and police to 400,000 units total. In October 2009, the United States announced it plans to spend $1.3 billion by 2010 on building several military bases for the Afghan army. This includes an upgrade of more than $100 million to Bagram Air Base, the largest military base in the country, as well as a new $70 million base in Farah near the border with Iran.
Constitution of Afghanistan
The Constitution of Afghanistan is the supreme law of the state Afghanistan, which serves as the legal framework between the Afghan government and the Afghan citizens. Although Afghanistan (Afghan Empire) was made a state in 1747 by Ahmad Shah Durrani, the earliest Afghan constitution was written during the reign of Emir Abdur Rahman Khan in the 1890s followed by the 1923 version.
The current Afghan constitution was approved by the consensus in January 2004 after the 2003 loya jirga. It evolved out of the Afghan Constitution Commission mandated by the Bonn Agreement. The constitution provides for an elected President and National Assembly. The transitional government of interim president Hamid Karzai was put in place after the June 2002 loya jirga. Presidential elections took place in October 2004, and Karzai was elected to a five-year term. Elections for the National Assembly were delayed until September 2005. The Constitution of Afghanistan consists of 160 articles and was officially signed by Hamid Karzai on January 26.
The constitution involves a strong presidential system. The President of Afghanistan is elected directly by the Afghan people to a five-year term, and can be elected no more than twice. The president has two vice-presidents, one being more important than the other because one is number one and the other is number two.
The President must be a Muslim, an Afghan citizen born of Afghan parents, and must not have been convicted of crimes against humanity, a criminal act or deprivation of civil rights. The president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Presidential responsibilities will include:
- Determining policies with the approval of the National Assembly.
- Appointing the nation's ministers, the attorney general, the director of the central bank, and the justices of the Supreme Court with the approval of the main legislative body, the Wolesi Jirga.
- Appointing governors and the nation's first and second vice presidents
The National Assembly of Afghanistan consists of two houses: the Wolesi Jirga (House of the People) and the Meshrano Jirga (House of Elders). The Wolesi Jirga, the more powerful house, consists of a maximum of 250 delegates directly elected through a system of semi-proportional representation (SNTV). Members are elected on a provincial basis and serve for five years. At least 64 delegates must be women; and ten Kuchi nomads were also elected among their peers. The Wolesi Jirga has the primary responsibility for making and ratifying laws and approving the actions of the president and has considerable veto power over senior appointments and policies
The Meshrano Jirga will consist of an unspecified number of local dignitaries and experts appointed by provincial councils, district councils, and the president. The president also appoints two representatives of the physically disabled. The lower house passes laws, approve budgets and ratify treaties – all of which will require subsequent approval by the Meshrano Jirga.