Afghanistan, a country in South Asia, is also known as the ‘graveyard of empires.’ There is a famous saying which goes like ‘Afghans are at peace only when they are at war. There were many invaders like Alexender the great, Changez khan and Babur but none of them got much success in capturing Afghanistan.
From 1839 to 1919 three Anglo-Afghan wars were fought, the British Empire which was considered the strongest at that time, still they weren’t able to capture the whole of Afghanistan after that treaty of Rawalpindi was signed and eventually, Afghanistan got independence in 1919.
A treaty of friendship was also signed with Russia and King Amanullah made the constitution in 1921 and 1923. In 1929, Tajiks removed king Amanullah and again a new constitution was made in 1931. Till 1946 Afghanistan got their parliament, free press and elections were held. In 1952, Daoud khan became the Prime Minister with the help of the Soviet Union.
In 1964, the Grand assembly which is also known as “Loya Jirga” adopted a constitution which was approved by King Zaheer Shah. It included several provisions like constitutional monarchy, bicameral legislature and one major caveat that ‘sovereignty should rest in the nation’. Islam was declared as the state religion under Article 2 but all rites were performed under Sunni Hanafi doctrine. Non-Muslims also got the right and liberties to profess and practice their religion.
In 1993, “Mujahidin” made a draft constitution named as “Daawat-e-Islami” Afghanistan in which Article 6 states that “The Islamic State of Afghanistan is founded on political, social, cultural and economic institutions which are per the Islamic principles and rules.”
Taliban was formed in 1995 from the “Mujahidin“. Apart from being a militant organization, the Taliban is a tribal group that consider their practices, culture etc. as the major difference between itself and its parent organisation. While “Mujahidin” looked for modernization and democracy, Taliban consists of ultra-conservatives who don’t believe in elections, public rights and democracy.
On 22 December 2001, Hamid Karzai became the head of interim government and was later sworn as the President. In 2004, the latest constitution of Afghanistan was made which applies to date. Time and again, the Ulema, intellectuals and government conflict with interests but it was made clear that in case of conflict in Islamic and state laws, state law will prevail.
According to the 2020 survey, no group of Afghanistan was in majority. Pashtuns are the largest group of Afghanistan. However, they are only 38.5%, Hazaras make up 24.5%, Tajiks 21.3%, Uzbeks 6% apart from other groups as well.
If any country has numerous groups and is not in the majority then the presidential form of government is not good for them. Instead, they can adopt the parliamentary form of government as we have in India because of its diverse nature. The biggest flaw in the 2004 constitution was that it is very unified and over-centralized which creates a problem in diverse ethnic countries. A diverse country with local nature needs federalism.
All these provisions of the 2004 constitution made non-Pashtuns angry who don’t want a Pashtun dominating country and that’s how the Taliban gained support from these people.