The New Constitution
of Afghanistan
Remarks by Ambassador Said T. Jawad
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
04/20/2004
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I would like to express my gratitude to The Asia
and Middle East Programs at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars
for organizing this conference. I am honored to be among very
distinguished guests here.
I would like to talk about and focus mainly on
our new constitution, but I will also share with you our achievements
and the challenges that we are facing in building state and
national institutions in Afghanistan, and the prospects of election
and democracy under our new Constitution.
In the past two years, we have worked hard to
implement the Bonn Agreement. We have sustained the politics
of consensus building, and continued to craft inclusive political
processes. On January 4, 2004, President Karzai signed our new
Constitution into law, marking another significant milestone,
under the Bonn Agreement. Five hundred and two men and women
delegates adopted with near unanimous acclamation the most progressive
constitution in the region.
The draft was prepared by a 35-member team in
consultation with Afghans and experts from the USA, Europe and
Africa. At nationwide public meetings, half a million Afghans
were asked about their opinion for the new Constitution.
The new Constitution is a balanced national charter.
It provides for equal rights and full participation of women.
It seeks and finds an equilibrium between building a strong
central executive branch (to further strengthen national unity
and rebuild the national institutions), and respecting the rights
and volition of the provinces to exercise more authority in
managing their local affairs. It institutionalizes district
and provincial level councils. Furthermore, it is a careful
combination of respect for moderate and traditional values of
the Afghan society and adherence to the international norms
of human rights and democracy. The new Constitution further
reveals that our Islamic and traditional values are fully compatible
and mutually reinforcing with an open democracy.
The new Constitution provides for check and balance
between a strong presidency and a two-chamber national assembly
with extensive powers of inquiry. It establishes the President
as the head of state. He/She is elected by direct majority vote.
He will serve for a period of five years with two Vice-Presidents
and is subject to a two-term limit. The President is the Commander-in-Chief
of the armed forces and appoints ministers and members of the
Supreme Court but only with the approval of the Parliament.
The President can not dissolve the parliament. The Constitution
provides for a clear impeachment process.
The Parliament or National Assembly consists of
two chambers: the Wolesi Jirga (or the lower house) and Meshrano
Jirga (or the upper house or senate). To insure that 25% of
the members of Lower House are women, the Constitution requires
that two female delegates be elected from each of the 34 provinces
of the country. Such a high quota for women is rare in most
countries both Muslim and non-Muslim. The President appoints
1/3 of the senators of which 50% must be women.
The Constitution creates an independent and able judicial branch.
The Supreme Court is comprised of nine members serving for a
period of ten years. The creation of the new Supreme Court will
be underway when the newly elected government is seated.
The new Constitution institutionalizes the civil
law system in Afghanistan. The Hanafi jurisprudence of Islamic
law will only be applied if there is no existing law that deals
with the matter. The Constitution protects the freedom of followers
of other religions. It prohibits formation of a political party
based on ethnicity, language and/or an Islamic school of thought.
The right to life and liberty, right to privacy,
right to assembly, and right of every person to a lawyer is
guaranteed. The state is obligated to appoint an attorney for
the destitute. The Constitution obligated the state to abide
by the UN charter and international treaties and conventions.
It also specifically protects the rights of millions of disabled,
handicapped and war victims. The Constitution, for the first
time, gives Afghan citizens unlimited rights to access information
from the Government. The Constitution obligates the state to
prevent all types of terrorist activities and the production
and trafficking of narcotics and intoxicants. It includes specific
provision requiring the state to encourage and protect investments
and private enterprises, and intellectual property rights.
The Independent Human Rights Commission set forth
by the Bonn Agreement is further empowered and institutionalized
by Article 58. The Commission has the right to refer cases of
human rights and fundamental rights violation to the judiciary
and is empowered to defend the victims.
As evidenced by the new constitution, we have
come a long way in two short years. The fact that a few weeks
ago the international community in Berlin pledged 4.5 billion
dollars for our next fiscal year and 8.2 billion dollars for
the next three years indicates the confidence of the donor countries
in our plans and vision to build a democratic state in Afghanistan.
Originally, success in Afghanistan was set in
the context of preventing negative results from a failed state;
such as spread of terrorism, narcotics and violation of human
and gender rights. Today, Afghanistan is gradually emerging
as a model of success, creating positive and exemplary results
for the region. Commerce and trade through Afghanistan are increasing.
This increase is enhancing the movement of not only goods but
also ideas, such as free market economy and democracy, along
the historic Silk Road in Asia. We are hosting this week the
first major international business conference in Kabul. The
two-day Economic Co-operation Organization Conference brought
ten countries together.
In the past two years, most Afghans have experienced
a significant improvement in their living conditions. Last year,
we reached an economic growth rate of 30%, and continuing at
20% this year, according to International Monetary Fund reports.
Our policy is secure durable donor commitment
and to institutionalize the national budget as a central tool
of policy making. We are convinced that sustainability can only
be achieved by building the capacity of our government to plan
and monitor the reconstruction agenda. We are committed to prudent
fiscal and monetary policies and reject deficit financing. Despite
challenges, we are pursuing an aggressive strategy for generating
and collecting more domestic revenues. We have re-built seven
custom houses throughout the country.
Fiscal stability has been achieved in Afghanistan,
after years of political and economic mismanagement. We have
successfully launched a new currency, and a very stable exchange
rate has been maintained. After years of three-digit inflation,
businesses in Afghanistan today are experiencing an almost inflation-free
environment. We have insured the autonomy of the banking sector,
and enacted a new banking law. Several international banks have
already opened offices in Kabul. We expect to see more to come,
as the market for loans, equity financing and insurance services
is not yet served.
A new liberal investment law is enacted, and a
very open trade regime has been introduced. Traders and investors
are faced with limited tariffs. Border formalities are being
reduced to a minimum. We have set up, with the assistance of
the German Government, a One-Stop-Shop for Investors, known
as the Afghan Investment Support Agency. To meet international
standards, a National Bureau of Standards is now being established.
After licensing two private Afghan and international
mobile phone companies, telecommunication and internet services
are now available in Kabul and all major cities. Two major international
hotel chains have invested in Afghanistan.
Building roads and infrastructure is our first
priority. The country is being reunited in terms of roads. The
main Kabul to Kandahar highway is completed with the support
of the United States and Japan. Securing funds for the reconstruction
of almost 5,000 km of primary road is now completed. We are
building 1,000 km of secondary roads each year. Preliminary
works on the Bamyan, Dushi, Jalalabad, Spinboldak and Herat
highways have taken place.
New laws on political parties, civic organizations,
freedom of expression and press have been enacted. Fourteen
independent and privately owned radio stations are operating
in different parts of the country, including radio stations
operated by women and for women in provinces such as Kandahar
and Kunduz. 270 newspapers and periodicals, the largest number
ever, are published. Women are beginning to participate in the
social and political life.
On poverty reduction, we are implementing the
National Solidarity Program. Through this program, over 3,000
villages, covering five million people, have elected through
secret ballot their village development councils. These councils
are planning, managing and implementing development projects,
using a 20,000-dollar block grant provided to each village by
the Government. Every month, five hundred villages receive around
10 million US dollars in grants. To insure the national ownership
of the reconstruction process, we have adopted a National Development
Framework and presented the donor community with a detailed
seven-year outlook during the Berlin conference.
Despite security challenges, we have started the
reform of our national intelligence service, which is a remnant
of past oppressive regimes. The number of the newly formed Afghan
National Army is about to reach 9,000 troops. About 7,600 National
Police Force are trained. This number will increase to 20,000
by the end of the year. They are gradually assuming their roles
in maintaining security. They are deployed in Herat, Faryab,
Kandahar, Paktia, Khost and Uruzgan provinces. Nationwide, more
than 6,000 heavy weapons have been moved to cantonment sites.
About 5.6 million children are going to school.
Thirty-five percent are girls. We have published millions of
textbooks. We have rebuilt 20% of our schools but there is more
to be done. Only 29% of schools are in a building and 70% are
in need of major repairs. We need 2,500 new schools. Japan has
rebuilt 150 schools and the United States is building 1,000
more schools throughout the country. We need to invest much
more in education. Teachers are being trained via radio broadcasts
throughout the country.
Now, about our challenges. We are realistic about our challenges.
We face a general challenge of building a state and providing
for good governance after complete destruction of all national
institutions and a severe shortage of resources and human capital.
We must improve local and district level governance, and reform,
strengthen and rebuild our government institutions to make them
accountable, capable and more representative. We must enhance
government capacity to deliver services to all corners of the
country, especially areas prone to terrorist infiltration. All
Afghans have not yet benefited from the peace dividends and
economic recovery. Some still lack personal and social security.
We must eliminate corruption, nepotism, rule of guns and abuse
of power that undermine our recovery process. We must confront
and end the legacy of Soviet-oriented rules, and the mindsets
of the hooligans of the past decades.
We are also facing specific challenges of preparing
the logistical and legal grounds for the election and building
the institutions and the capacity needed to prepare and enact
the enabling laws required by the new Constitution. Our people
have no electoral experience. Our attorneys and judges are paid
$40 a month.
We also continue to confront security challenges
posed by the terrorists and warlords. To overcome security challenges,
we must expedite the process of building our national army and
professional police force, and further orchestrate external
security support. To insure a successful election, our international
partners must enhance security in provinces by expediting the
deployment of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)
and/or Provincial Reconstructing Teams (PRT’s). We welcomed
the NATO and United Nation's decision to expand the ISAF outside
of Kabul as well as increasing the number of PRT’s from
12 to 16 before the election.
We must accelerate the demobilization, disarmament
and reintegration of private militias and prevent extremists
and opportunists from high-jacking democracy and the state building
process for personal gain or factional agenda. The clashes in
Herat and Faryab prove, once again, that we will not be able
to build a civil society in Afghanistan as long as warlords,
guns and private militias are around. The international community
must help us disarm and demobilize the existing militias. President
Karzai recently announced a major program to reduce the number
of militia groups by 40% by the end of June, and another 20%
reduction by the end of the year, and to completely eliminate
them by the end of June 2005. That means that by the end of
June this year, 11 divisions, 13 brigades, 10 regiments and
two battalions will be completely demobilized.
Narcotics pose a serious challenge for all of
us. Cultivation and trafficking of narcotics go hand in hand
with terrorism and warlordism. It is to our best national interest
to fight them all. President Karzai is committed to mobilize
all our resources in the fight against narcotics. We know Afghanistan’s
heroin, which sells on the retail market for one hundred times
the farm gate price, is one of the main sources of the illegal
money that funds international terrorism and crimes across the
region. It also finances the destabilizing activities of warlords
and criminals in Afghanistan. The international community and
our government cannot afford to wait as these destructive trends
further endanger national and global security. Comprehensive
and accelerated efforts are needed to break this vicious cycle.
The government of Afghanistan has adopted a National Drug Strategy
to reduce drastically poppy cultivation, encourage alternative
income streams, destroy poppy fields, and train specialized
national police units.
To overcome these challenges and to make the state
building process in Afghanistan irreversible, Afghans need and
demand the accelerated support and the sustained engagement
by the international community. In two short years, the people
of Afghanistan, in partnership with the United States, turned
a neglected country over-run by the Taliban and Al Qaeda, into
what President Hamid Karzai called “a center for the cooperation
of civilizations.”
The Afghan Constitution is a significant achievement
in our common fight against terrorism. Our next milestone is
holding the first national elections under the new Constitution.
The presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled for
September 2004. We insist on holding the elections on time;
but we will not compromise the legitimacy, credibility and integrity
of the process. We ask our international partners to help the
United Nations speed up the voters’ registration process.
It is crucial that the process gives all adult Afghans the opportunity
to exercise their constitutional rights to vote in the first
national elections. To date, 1.8 million out of 10.5 million
eligible voters are registered. We are working with the UN to
drastically increase the number of registration posts from eight
to 4,200 throughout the country.
By helping Afghanistan sustain this important
milestone, the United States and other nations are helping provide
the future blueprint for democracy in similar societies, the
very best antidote to extremism and terrorism. Led by the vision
of President Karzai, Afghanistan has emerged as a model. Afghanistan’s
successful advance on the path to democracy and state building
will impact upon the expectations and the aspirations of the
people in other arenas of the global war against terror and
tyranny.
Our people genuinely believe in engagement with
the international community, and have put their trust on the
benefits of international partnership. The world has found a
genuine strategic partner in our President.
Together we must demonstrate that this trust is
not misplaced.
Thank you.
