Afghan Constitution Commission
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The Afghan Constitution Commission (or Afghan Constitutional Commission) was established October 5, 2002 as required by the Bonn Agreement, which stipulated that a new
Afghan Afghan or Afgan may refer to: Related to Afghanistan *Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...
constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...
be adopted by a loya jirga. The loya jirga was required to convene within eighteen months of the establishment of Afghan Transitional Administration, which was established by the Emergency Loya Jirga in June 2002. After some delay, the proposed Afghan Constitution was presented to President
Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan politician who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from 2002 to 2014, including as the first president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from 2004 to 2014. He previously served a ...
on November 3, 2003. A loya jirga began December 14, 2003 (four days after schedule) in
Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...
and was endorsed January 4, 2004.


Make up of the commission

The initial Commission was made up of nine members and started work on October 5, 2002. After its work was completed (although no draft was released), the initial Commission was replaced on May 7, 2003 by a 35-member Reviewing Commission, referred to as the Constitution Commission. The 35 members were all appointed by president Karzai. Seven of the members were women. The commission set up eight regional offices in
Jalalabad Jalalabad (; Help:IPA/Persian, ͡ʒä.lɑː.lɑː.bɑːd̪ is the list of cities in Afghanistan, fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 200,331, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part ...
,
Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...
,
Kunduz Kunduz (; ; ) is a city in northern Afghanistan and the capital of Kunduz Province. The city has an estimated population of about 268,893 as of 2015, making it about the List of cities in Afghanistan, seventh largest city of Afghanistan, and the ...
, Kabul,
Gardez Gardez ( / ; ''Gardēz'', meaning "mountain fortress" in Middle Persian) is the capital of the Paktia Province of Afghanistan. The population of the city was estimated to be ca. 10,000 in the 1979 census and was estimated to be 70,000 in 2008. Th ...
,
Kandahar Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...
, Mazar and
Bamyan Bamyan (), also spelled Bamian or Bamiyan, is the capital of Bamyan Province in central Afghanistan. Its population of approximately 100,000 people makes it the largest city in Hazarajat. Bamyan is at an altitude of about above sea level. The ...
as well as in the
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
i cities of
Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...
and
Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...
, and in the
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
ian cities of
Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...
and
Mashhad Mashhad ( ; ), historically also known as Mashad, Meshhed, or Meshed in English, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. ...
. The process was being monitored by the
United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan ('UNAMA'') is a UN Special Political Mission tasked with assisting the people of Afghanistan. UNAMA was established on 28 March 2002 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1401. Revi ...
and was funded by the
United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...
.


Consultation process

Consultations with the Afghan public started June 10, 2003. Commission teams from Kabul and regional offices made trips through Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.
Afghan refugees Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were forced to flee from their country as a result the continuous wars that the country has suffered since the Afghan-Soviet war, the Afghan civil war, the Afghanistan war (2001–2021) or either p ...
in the
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were also said to be consulted. The commission also distributed posters and leaflets, and a monthly newsletter. Radio and television announcements were also made.


Delays and final release

The initial goal was for the commission to present the draft constitution by September 1, 2003, but in August commission members asked for a two-month delay to allow more time to gather reactions. On August 28
Ghulam Farooq Wardak Ghulam Farooq Wardak (born 1959) is a politics of Afghanistan, politician in Afghanistan, formerly serving as the Ministry of Education (Afghanistan), Minister of Education. He was appointed to that position by President of Afghanistan, Afghan Pr ...
announced that the loya jirga had been postponed until December 10. The commission wanted more time to consult with Afghans.
Ghulam Farooq Wardak Ghulam Farooq Wardak (born 1959) is a politics of Afghanistan, politician in Afghanistan, formerly serving as the Ministry of Education (Afghanistan), Minister of Education. He was appointed to that position by President of Afghanistan, Afghan Pr ...
, the director of the commission's secretariat, said the delay would give Afghans more time to decide if they wanted a republic, a parliamentary system, or a return to a monarchy. Other issues, he said, included the degree of centralization in Kabul and the role of
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
. He said 100,000 questionnaires from all provinces of Afghanistan had been completed and sent to the commission. The Commission presented its proposed constitution on November 3, 2003. The ceremony was attended by president Karzai, former king Mohammad Zaihr Shah, and
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. The draft was distributed throughout the country to Provincial Governors and Wuluswals for distribution to political leaders. It was also widely distributed via the Regional Offices of Secretariat of the Constitutional Commission to ELJ district representatives, to the media, including magazines '' Kellid'' and '' Morsal''.


Opposition to the proposed constitution

Pacha Khan Zadran, a
Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...
warlord in
Paktia province Paktia (Pashto – ''Paktyā'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the east of the country. Forming part of the larger Loya Paktia region, Paktia Province is divided into 15 districts and has a population of roughly 623,00 ...
, criticized the proposed constitution for abolishing the hereditary monarchy. Mahbuba Hoquqmal, the Afghan Minister of Women's Affairs, said the constitution did not grant protection to women's property rights, did not prevent women being forced to marry without their consent, and did not offer better guarantees of equal treatment by Afghanistan's courts. Some
Uzbeks The Uzbeks () are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, being among the largest Turkic ethnic groups in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakhs, Kazakh and Karakalpaks, Karakalpak ...
,
Turkmens Turkmens (, , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-western Afghanistan. Sizeable groups of Turkmens are found also in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, ...
and Baluch said that the proposed constitution alienated their cultures. For example, the draft stated that
Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...
and
Dari Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...
would be the two official languages, and that the national anthem would be sung in Pashto. Other issues raised by some loya jirga delegates included whether former king
Mohammad Zahir Shah Mohammad Zāhir Shāh (15 October 1914 – 23 July 2007) was the last King of Afghanistan, reigning from 8 November 1933 until he was deposed on 17 July 1973. Ruling for 40 years, Zahir Shah was the longest-serving ruler of Afghanistan since t ...
should maintain the title "father of the nation," whether Afghanistan should be a
free market In economics, a free market is an economic market (economics), system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of ...
economy, and whether higher education should be free.


External links


The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan's website
- includes documents on the constitutional process.
UNHCR document PDF original includes details of the commission's work and initial public opinion, divided by region
{{Afghanistan topics Constitutional commissions Political history of Afghanistan History of Afghanistan (1992–present) 2002 establishments in Afghanistan