Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Parliament

Parliament

Realpolitik and the 2021 National Budget: The toxic struggle for money and power that undermined Afghanistan’s Republic

Roxanna Shapour •

The 2021 new year did not get off to a promising start in Afghanistan. The conflict was raging, violence was at an all-time high for winter and the so-called peace talks were hobbling along in Doha. In what turned out to be the waning months of the Republic, lawmakers and government were deep in the […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more
10 days 15 hours, 35 minutes and 13 seconds to go: The IEC's count down to the 20 October 2018 parliamentary elections in Afghanistan. Source: Screenshot from the IEC website, at the time of uploading this dispatch

Afghanistan Election Conundrum (16): Basic facts about the parliamentary elections

AAN Team • Thomas Ruttig •

Afghanistan’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has posted a clock on its home page that counts down the time remaining until the 20 October parliamentary election (minus Ghazni province). That’s a nice gag. It would also have been good if a counter had been provided to show, for example, the total number of registered voters (on its […]

Political Landscape Read more

Thematic Dossier XX: Electoral reform and the preparations for the 2018 elections

AAN Team •

Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for 20 October this year, three and a half years late. They were delayed so that the electoral system could be reformed – although what that delay achieved in terms of reforms, is questionable. The country’s first district elections are also still scheduled for the same day, although the Independent Election Commission […]

Dossiers Read more
Chai ne-khorda, solh ne-mesha. Photo: Thomas Ruttig

Understanding Hurdles to Afghan Peace Talks: Are the Taleban a political party?

Khalilullah Safi • Thomas Ruttig •

Following his February 2018 offer of peace talks to the Taleban, President Ashraf Ghani proposed that they run as a political party in the upcoming elections. In 2011, his predecessor, Hamed Karzai, had offered something different, that the government would support the Taleban’s recognition by the United Nations Security Council as a “party to the […]

War and Peace Read more

Afghanistan Election Conundrum (5): A late demand to change the electoral system

Ali Yawar Adili •

A group of influential political parties have called for a change to the electoral system. This emerged out of the ongoing dispute between one of the parties, predominantly Tajik Jamiat-e Islami, and the presidential palace over the contested dismissal of Balkh Governor Atta Muhammad Nur. The group wants political parties to have a greater role […]

Political Landscape Read more
A group of people seated around the table, headed by president Ghani.

Parliament Kicks Out Ministers Again: A multi-dimensional power struggle

Thomas Ruttig •

The Afghan parliament’s lower house has sacked seven ministers in a new wave of interpellations (estizah). It is not clear who instigated the estizah motions, MPs themselves or Palace intrigue, or who will come out as the winner (the president has told the ministers to stay in their posts and called on the Supreme Court […]

Political Landscape Read more
Al-Hajj Delbar Nazari - Minister of Women’s Affairs of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Tired of the Estezah? Minister for Women’s Affairs survives vote of no confidence

Thomas Ruttig •

The Minister for Women’s Affairs, Delbar Nazari, has narrowly survived a vote of no confidence in parliament earlier this month. This is the latest in a long series of such motions against ministers that have become a means of carrying out political confrontations by proxy in parliament since a long time. MPs, however, seem to […]

Political Landscape Read more
Just 27 MPs voted for the amended presidential decree that would have allowed changes to the electoral commissions. 126 rejected it. Photo: Tolo News

Another hurdle for elections in 2016: MPs reject presidential decree on electoral commissions

Ali Yawar Adili • Kate Clark • Lenny Linke • Salima Ahmadi •

Had MPs approved the presidential legislative decree ‘reforming’ the electoral commissions, Afghanistan would now be significantly closer to holding parliamentary and district elections. (And the National Unity Government could have claimed to be pushing forward on electoral reform, something required by the agreement that established it.) However, after three days of ill-mannered discussion, MPs roundly […]

Political Landscape Read more

Ghani’s Speech to the Parliament: A hardening position on war, peace and Pakistan

Martine van Bijlert •

President Ghani’s speech to the Afghan parliament, in an extraordinary joint session on 25 April 2016, was unprecedented. Made in response to demands that he clarify the government’s security policies, the televised speech was sober and dignified, and detailed the government’s hardening stance against Pakistan, the Haqqani network, Daesh and “parts of the Taleban.” Although, […]

War and Peace Read more
Interior of the new inaugurated Wolesi Jirga hall of Afghan Parliament (Photo Credit: Wolesi Jirga Website 2015)

New Building, Old MPs: A guide to the Afghan parliament

Salima Ahmadi • Thomas Ruttig •

Afghanistan’s parliament has relocated to a new building of Indian construction in Kabul. Moreover, a date has finally been set for the next parliamentary elections. With the parliament’s term extended until the elections, it has another year of sessions, which raises the issue of its very legality. AAN researcher Salima Ahmadi (with contributions from senior […]

Political Landscape Read more
Portrait picture of Masum Stanakzai, nominated as minister of defense.

Stanakzai Goes from Peace to War: For Afghanistan, finally a defence minister?

Kate Clark •

The national unity government is making its fourth attempt to appoint a minister of defence. On 24 May 2015, the presidential palace announced the nomination of Masum Stanakzai who has been the head of the Joint Secretariat of the High Peace Council and Afghanistan Peace and Reconciliation Programme since 2009. Members of Parliament will still need […]

Political Landscape Read more

A Half-Solution: Provincial Councils get oversight authority back – for the time being

Ehsan Qaane • Thomas Ruttig •

Instead of being resolved, the long power struggle between parliament and the Provincial Councils (PC) about how much and what kind of authority the councils would have has entered a new round in 2015 – with no end in sight. In 2014, under the previous president, a new law was designed to solve this issue. […]

Political Landscape Read more

Subscribe to receive updates from the Afghanistan Analysts Network

Sign up