AFGHANISTAN IN THE IMMEDIATE POST-TRAUMA CASE INVESTIGATING POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE YEARS (2002-2008)

Abstract

Afghanistan has been ruled under informal arrangements of power for most of its life. Due to conventional politics, political institutions have been less prioritized over time. Historically, Afghanistan has been short of a sound and secured political environment owing to multitudes of problems: geostrategic location, ethnic disorder, the conservative-liberal ideological gap, the sectarian divide, its tribal structure, etc. Afghan code of political conduct is based on longstanding traditions under which matters of local and even national importance are settled by the Jirga (local council) following those rules. The Head of a tribe is always cherished and his words carry weight. The Jirga system still prevails in Afghanistan and the Pashtun belt of Pakistan. Despite being an archaic scheme, the Jirga system has its merits in Afghan’s social and political lives as it decides their day-to-day matters within due space of time, and its assessments are valued because of the tribal social code. In the current  political developments following the Bonn Agreement, 2001, the informal provisions of power have been given a legal role as the Loya Jirga approved the Constitution and played an active part in the Interim and Transitional Afghan setups. This research paper presents a short history of power patterns in Afghanistan and studies its current political system at national and sub-national levels.