12.2007 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Details on legal basis and regulations to form a political party; Law on Political Parties (approved in 2003) ("UNHCR's Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Afghan Asylum-Seekers") [ID 22117]

"Afghan citizens have the right to form social organizations and political parties, provided their programme and charter are not contrary to the principles of Islam, the provisions and values of the Constitution, and that their organizational structure and financial sources are made public. Furthermore, they are prohibited from having military or paramilitary aims, and structures or affiliation to foreign political parties.

The Law on Political Parties prohibits the formation of parties based on ethnicity, language, Islamic school of thought and religion. A duly formed party shall not be dissolved without lawful reasons and the decision of an authorized court. An increasing number of applications for registration of political parties have been approved by the Ministry of Justice and a growing number have received accreditation.

The application of the Law on Political Parties, by prohibiting legitimate parties from having militia forces, has generally proved a useful tool in the disarmament and demobilization of former armed Mujaheddin groups and Islamic parties established prior to its promulgation."

Document(s): Open document

2004 - Source: Institute for Afghan Studies

Political Parties Law (Unofficial Translation) ("Political Parties Law (Unofficial Translation)") [#21437],  [ID 653]

Document(s): Open document

01.2003 - Source: Overseas Development Institute

Article on the legal basis of political parties ("Afghanistan’s political and constitutional development (Authors: Chris Johnson, William Maley, Alexander Thier and Ali Wardak)") [#11961],  [ID 654]

"Creating and regulating political parties is likely to be one of the most important and controversial issues Afghanistan will face. The country has had an unhappy history with political parties, which are associated with both the rise of communism in Kabul in the 1970s, which resulted in the 1978 coup and subsequent Soviet invasion, and with the mujahideen. While `parties' (tanzeemat) were prominent within the Afghan resistance during the 1980s, they were for the most part based on networks of ethnic affinity or patronage. Moreover, their responsibility for the brutal civil war in the early 1990s that destroyed the capital and paved the way for the Taliban means that they are hated by many Afghans. Mujahideen parties have also tended to have a strong ethnic character ­ a fact that contributed greatly to the ethnicisation of the civil war.

Afghanistan has no law legalising or regulating political parties. Article 32 of the 1964 constitution gives Afghan citizens the right to form parties, but the Political Parties Law was never signed by the king and political parties were never legal under the constitutional regime. This lack of a law, according to ATA sources, means that political parties are still not legal in fghanistan, and thus all party activities are currently proscribed. Some in the government want to use this state of affairs to control unwanted political activity, while others say that a political party law has been drafted and will be put to President Karzai soon.
This raises two concerns. First, with less than two years remaining until the date for the first election, there will be insufficient time for new parties to form and participate in the political process. While numerous proto-parties are already registered with the Ministry of Justice using euphemistic names like sazman (organisation), nizat (movement) and shura, these entities cannot yet act as political parties in the fullest sense, and they are very aware of the need to tread carefully at present. Second, there is a risk that the lack of a political party law might be used to suppress political activity by groups without power or an established party structure."

Document(s): Open document

01.2003 - Source: Overseas Development Institute

Constitutional basis of political parties ("Afghanistan’s political and constitutional development (Authors: Chris Johnson, William Maley, Alexander Thier and Ali Wardak)") [#11961],  [ID 967]

"Creating and regulating political parties is likely to be one of the most important and controversial issues Afghanistan will face. The country has had an unhappy history with political parties, which are associated with both the rise of communism in Kabul in the 1970s, which resulted in the 1978 coup and subsequent Soviet invasion, and with the mujahideen. While `parties' (tanzeemat) were prominent within the Afghan resistance during the 1980s, they were for the most part based on networks of ethnic affinity or patronage. Moreover, their responsibility for the brutal civil war in the early 1990s that destroyed the capital and paved the way for the Taliban means that they are hated by many Afghans. Mujahideen parties have also tended to have a strong ethnic character ­ a fact that contributed greatly to the ethnicisation of the civil war.

Afghanistan has no law legalising or regulating political parties. Article 32 of the 1964 constitution gives Afghan citizens the right to form parties, but the Political Parties Law was never signed by the king and political parties were never legal under the constitutional regime. This lack of a law, according to ATA sources, means that political parties are still not legal in fghanistan, and thus all party activities are currently proscribed. Some in the government want to use this state of affairs to control unwanted political activity, while others say that a political party law has been drafted and will be put to President Karzai soon.
This raises two concerns. First, with less than two years remaining until the date for the first election, there will be insufficient time for new parties to form and participate in the political process. While numerous proto-parties are already registered with the Ministry of Justice using euphemistic names like sazman (organisation), nizat (movement) and shura, these entities cannot yet act as political parties in the fullest sense, and they are very aware of the need to tread carefully at present. Second, there is a risk that the lack of a political party law might be used to suppress political activity by groups without power or an established party structure."

Document(s): Open document