Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Loya Jirga

Loya Jirga

AAN Obituary: Mahbuba Hoquqmal, ‘friend of the law’ (1944-2020)

Thomas Ruttig •

Mahbuba Hoquqmal was one of the most important legal scholars in Afghanistan. As a participant in two loya jirgas and with her working life dedicated to teaching and legal reform, she shaped the country’s constitutional history. She particularly focussed on the improvement of the legal situation of Afghan women. On 30 October 2020, she died […]

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AAN Dossier XXVI: Big Tent ‘Democracy’ – Afghanistan’s loya jirgas, 1915 to 2020

AAN Team •

The loya jirga – or grand assembly – has been used as a political instrument by almost every Afghan king and president for the last century, with the first held arguably in 1915 and the last, for now, in August 2020. These jirgas typically bring together hundreds, sometimes thousands of delegates from the various ethnic […]

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Doors Opened for Direct Talks with the Taleban: The results of the Loya Jirga on prisoners and peace

Thomas Ruttig • Ali Yawar Adili • Obaid Ali •

The three-day Consultative Peace Loya Jirga held in Kabul from 17-19 Asad 1399 (7-9 August 2020) has opened the way for the Afghan government to release a final 400 Taleban prisoners from government jails, thereby removing the last obstacle blocking direct peace talks with the Taleban. The jirga delegates did not question the stark choice the government […]

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To Release, Or Not To Release? Legal questions around Ghani’s consultative loya jirga on Taleban prisoners

Ehsan Qaane •

The Consultative Loya Jirga, called by President Ashraf Ghani to decide the fate of 400 Taleban prisoners, and whether they should be released to enable intra-Afghan peace talks, has begun. Ghani has argued that, according to the constitution and the penal code, it was not in his power to release these prisoners and therefore he […]

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Women and Afghan Peace Talks: ‘Peace consensus’ gathering left Afghan women without reassurance

Thomas Ruttig •

One of the recurrent themes around the US-Taleban negotiations to end the Afghan war (so far without participation of the Afghan government) is the demand of Afghan women for “meaningfully participation” in the preparations for inclusive peace talks. This expectation also figured at a national consensus gathering (ejma) in Kabul in late February this year. […]

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Afghanistan’s National Unity Government Rift (1): Crisis averted (for now), back to appointing commissions

Ali Yawar Adili • Lenny Linke • Martine van Bijlert •

Just weeks before the upcoming donor conference in Brussels on 5 October 2016, the two leaders of Afghanistan’s National Unity Government (NUG) erupted into a fierce, public argument. Chief Executive Abdullah accused President Ghani of unilateralism and called him “unfit” for his office; the president hit back implying that the rival camp was merely trying […]

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Electoral Reform, or rather: Who will control Afghanistan’s next election?

Martine van Bijlert •

President Ghani and Chief Executive Officer Abdullah, in the September 2014 agreement, agreed to electoral reforms “to ensure that future elections are credible.” The details of these reforms, when they should take place and who should design them are, however, proving contentious. Meanwhile, parliament has been working on relevant laws, while commissioners of the Independent […]

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Dr Abdullah and Dr Ghani signing their first bilateral agreement on 8 August 2014.

The President’s CEO Decree: Managing rather than executive powers (now with full translation of the document)

Thomas Ruttig •

It is one of the central documents of the new national unity government, but it has not received much public attention: the presidential decree that lays out the “responsibilities and authorities” of the new Chief Executive Officer and was already issued in December 2014. AAN’s co-director Thomas Ruttig has read the document (find an AAN […]

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Karzai’s Refusal to Sign Frustrates Afghans

AAN Team •

The Diplomat, 26 November 2013 The India-based diplomatic online journal discusses President Karzai’s refusal to heed the decision of the Consultative Loya Jirga to sign the US-Afghan BSA. Among others, it quotes AAN’s Obaid Ali: “He points to the ‘contradiction between the Grand Assembly and Karzai.’ He told The Diplomat that ‘there is a clear contradiction between the President and […]

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Karzai hedges on Afghan security pact despite assembly backing

AAN Team •

AFP/Global Post, 25 November 2013 Kate Clark’s AAN dispatch on the BSA jirga’s last day is quoted in this article: “Kate Clark, senior analyst with the Afghan [sic] Analysts Network, said that with the BSA unsigned, Karzai retains some bargaining power. … ‘As Karzai said on the first day of the jirga, there is no […]

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Hamid Karsai pokert mit den USA (print only)

Thomas Ruttig •

Tageszeitung (Berlin), 25 November 2013 Read a summary article on the outcome of the BSA Loya Jirga in Kabul by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig in which he concludes that Prsident “Karzai wants to decide about the agreement himself, the jirga was only window-dressing.”

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A Yes, a Maybe and a Threat of Migration: The BSA loya jirga’s last day

Kate Clark •

Whoever expected clarity and a swift signing of the US-Afghan Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) following the consultative loya jirga will be disappointed. The heads of the 50 committees duly reported back on this final day with a unanimity of views which strongly suggested prior coordination; all supported and almost all urged President Karzai to sign […]

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