Chapter 3 continues…

A military coup in 1973 overthrew the monarchy, abolished the constitution of 1964, and established the Republic of Afghanistan. The Grand Assembly (Loya Jirga) adopted a new constitution in February 1977, but it was abrogated in 1978 when another coup established the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, governed by the Afghan Revolutionary Council.

Political turmoil continued, marked by a third coup in September 1979, a massive intervention through the sending of troops from the Soviet Union, and the installation of a socialist government in December 1979. Another new constitution— promulgated in 1987 and revised in 1990—changed the name of the country back to the Republic of Afghanistan, reaffirmed its nonaligned status, strengthened the post of president, and permitted other parties to participate in government.

The communist regime, which had managed to hold power after the Soviet forces departed early in 1989, fell in 1992, and a coalition of victorious Mujahideen parties formed a government (recognized by the UN) and named the country the Islamic State of Afghanistan.

The new government was driven from the capital in 1996 by a movement based in Kandahar and calling itself the Taleban.TheTaleban leaders promptly changed the name of the country to the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.” In December 2001 the Taleban was toppled by a coalition of Afghan parties supported by the United States. Neither of these post-communist governments, both espousing the supremacy of Islamic law, had promulgated a new constitution for the country.

The government institutions established during the reign of Abdur Rahman Khan (1880–1901) laid the groundwork for the modern Afghan state. They gave primacy to a strong military, centralized government control from Kabul, and signaled the primacy of the Pashtun as the country’s ruling group. In practice, however, Afghan governments have never succeeded in extending their rule very deeply at the local levels.

To be continued…