The president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was constitutionally the

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

and

head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

of the

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was a presidential republic in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2021. The state was established to replace the Afghan Afghan Interim Administration, interim (2001–2002) and Transitional Islamic State of Afghanist ...

and Commander-in-Chief of the

Afghan Armed Forces The Afghan Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (, ) and also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Armed Forces, is the military of Afghanistan, commanded by the Taliban government from 1997 to 2001 and a ...

Eligibility and selection process

Article 62 of the

2004 Constitution of Afghanistan The 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan was the supreme law of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, which lasted from 2004 to 2021. It served as the legal framework between the Afghan government and the Afghan citizens. Although Afghanistan ( Afghan ...

stated that a candidate for the office of President had to: * be a citizen of Afghanistan, Muslim, born of Afghan parents; * not be a citizen of another country; * be at least forty years old when declaring candidacy; * not have been convicted of

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

, a criminal act or deprived of civil rights by a court; * not have previously served more than two terms as president.

Powers

The 2004 Constitution granted the president wide powers over military and legislative affairs, with a relatively weak national

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

, the House of the People (Wolesi Jirga) and the

House of Elders House of Elders could refer to: * House of Elders (Afghanistan) * House of Elders (Somaliland) See also * Elder (disambiguation) * Eldership (disambiguation) * Council of Elders (disambiguation) Council of Elders may refer to: * Council of El ...

(Meshrano Jirga). A president could only serve up to two five-year terms.

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 ...

began his first five-year term in 2004. After his second term ended in 2014,

Ashraf Ghani Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan former politician and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was 2021 Taliban offensive, overthrown by the Ta ...

was elected as the next Afghan president.

Last election

References

{{Heads of state of Afghanistan 1973 establishments in Afghanistan 2021 disestablishments in Afghanistan Heads of state of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan