Afghans Feel Let Down by Politics

Political parties in Afghanistan are too divisive, pursuing narrow interests at the cost of national unity, according to participants in three IWPR debates this month.

Speakers at events in Nangarhar, Wardak and Logar provinces complained that public confidence in the democratic process was undermined by the actions of parties.

In Logar, a province south of Kabul, provincial council member Hajji Mohammad Qasim Khushiwal said that political parties only exacerbated divisions that already existed in Afghan society.

“Parties in Afghanistan only try to achieve private aims or to win power dishonestly,” he said, adding that there was not enough legal scrutiny over their activities.

Mohammad Kazem, head of the youth affairs department in Logar, said political groupings were based on narrow regional and ethnic interests and had failed to build any sense of national unity.

“The public doesn’t know where the parties get their funding from. The parties cannot be making the amount of money they currently control from membership fees alone,” he said. “I believe that the number of political associations and parties should be reduced, to prevent further dividing the public on the one hand, and on the other, to help the parties actually serve the people.”

A representative of the Afghan Mellat party, Mohammad Qayum Sayal, pointed out that most of the bigger political parties had their roots in the mujahedin factions that fought the Soviet-backed government in the 1980s.

“After the Russians left Afghanistan, these parties were unable to play a positive role. Their civil war [1992-96] martyred 60,000 innocent citizens in Kabul,” Sayal said.

Afghanistan’s political party law states that anyone is free to set up a party, but that parties must not pursue objectives that contradict Islamic law, use or threaten force, or “incite ethnic, racial, religious or regional discrimination”. Nor can they disrupt public order, be affiliated with armed organisations, or receive funds from foreign sources.

Participants in the IWPR debates said these rules were often flouted.

In an April 7 debate in Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, speakers complained that many political parties were created for opportunistic reasons rather out of any ideological motive.

Mohammad Aurang Mukhtar, the head of the provincial department for information and culture, said political parties in Afghanistan were all about money. Many were created with help from specific donors or foreign countries, and when the funding dried up, the parties failed to survive.

“Some parties are created temporarily to compete in presidential or parliamentary elections, but after either winning or losing, they are disbanded,” he said.

Civil society activist Wali Mohammad Elham said political parties should have some core values.

“Those parties that were created based on political ideologies still exist,” he said.

Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of Wardak, told the debate that all too often, political factions threw their weight around.

“Political parties here go far beyond their remit. They even behave like executive authorities at times, although political parties aren’t supposed to do that,” he said.

At an April 6 debate held in the eastern Nangarhar province, speakers noted how few women were active in political parties.

Civil society activist Shamshad said conservative restrictions, more than three decades of war, poor educational opportunities had excluded women from politics.

“The national unity government should take practical steps to ensure women’s, rights based on Islamic provisions and sharia. Women’s rights must go now beyond slogans.”

Political analyst Mangal Sherzad agreed that women had been unable to play a significant role in Afghan politics.

He went on to accuse political parties of failing to hold the government to account.

“The lack of competent political parties in Afghanistan has meant that 104 billion dollars from the international community hasn’t been spent on essential work by the administration,” Sherzad said.

Mohammad Asef Shinwari, who belongs to a political group called Change and Continuity, said Afghanistan had far too many parties – over 120 at the last count.

“Afghan political parties aren’t set up to reflect the popular will, nor do they represent the demands of our citizens,” he said.

This report is based on an ongoing series of debates conducted as part of the IWPR programme Afghan Reconciliation: Promoting Peace and Building Trust by Engaging Civil Society.