KABUL, 6 January 2004 — Afghanistan’s new constitution is a victory for President Hamid Karzai who emerges with strong central powers, but analysts questioned what price Karzai had paid to secure a deal.
The constitution has won plaudits from abroad for being the nation’s first foothold into democracy, although questions remained as to whether warlordism and ethnic divisions would prevent its smooth implementation.
The charter was hammered out during three weeks of intense wrangling at the loya jirga or grand assembly during which the 502 delegates attempted to breach ethnic, language and political differences.
Vikram Parekh, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said Karzai — an ethnic Pashtun — had won practically all of his demands for a strong presidential system.
Despite initial concerns about the amount of powers given to the president, anti-Soviet Mujahedeen leaders and warlords agreed to the presidential system combined with a strong bicameral Parliament in the belief that they will be well represented in such a legislature, Parekh said.
“Karzai, to get the support that he has had, particularly from the delegates Pashtun and non-Pashtun .... there will be a political price to be paid for that,” he said.
“And that will limit his flexibility to push a through more reforms down the line.”
Pashtuns are the biggest ethnic group in Afghanistan, accounting for about 40 percent of the population, but there are also Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Turkmen, and Baluch minorities.
The constitution is the first attempt to provide a legal framework for Afghanistan since the fall of the repressive fundamentalist Taleban regime in late 2001.
The president is to be directly elected by winning more than 50 percent of the votes of the Afghan people and will have two vice presidents.
The 160-article document outlines the framework for an Islamic republic with “Islam as its sacred religion”, but followers of other faiths are free to worship within the provisions of the law.
In a carefully balanced wording, the country will combine democracy and religion. The legal system will be based on civil law, although the charter says it will not run contrary to Islamic beliefs.
Men and women are deemed to have equal rights and duties before the law, unlike under the Taleban regime when women were unable to work and girls were banned from schools.
Pashtu and Dari are the official languages along with ethnic minority languages in the areas in which they are spoken and the national anthem is to be sung in Pashtu.
Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission spokesman Ahmad Nader Nadery said the procedures in developing the constitution heralded “the end of traditional politics in Afghanistan”.
Nadery said the commission was generally pleased with the constitution but was worried about the rights of minorities and other vulnerable groups in the community such as women, children and the disabled.
“Some of the rights enshrined in the constitution are not clear and are subject to legislation ... and that concerns us because legislation can be changed,” he said.
A spokeswoman for a women’s group echoed these concerns, but said there were improvements in the constitution.
However Palwasha Hassan of the Afghan Women’s Network added: “We aren’t able to ensure that these good improvements will be translated into laws and practices.”
