Anis Sadat
September 3, 2020, 11:03 PM EDT
Washington (Kavian Press) – Dr. Abdullah Abdullah the Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation told, Al-Arabia channel on Thursday that under the law and specific mechanisms when there is a need or requirement, the Afghan constitution can be amended.
The statement was made when Dr. Abdullah was asked if is there a chance to amend the Afghan constitution in the peace negations with the Taliban.
“One of the articles in the resolution by the Peace Jirga is also focused on whether the Afghan constitution can be amended.” He further added without specifying the article in detail.
The Peace Jirga was held to decide the faith of the last 400 dangerous Taliban prisoners who were accused of attacking and killing foreign forces in Afghanistan and carrying out high scale attacks against afghan troops and civilians over the years.
The Taliban do not recognize the Afghan constitution and the Afghan government as legitimate and demanded for the constitution to be amended or rewritten.
Replacing the Islamic Republic with Islamic Emirate, women right and freedom of speech are some the amendments, the Taliban are eyeing to change.
President Ashraf Ghani has called the “Republic) the “red line” for the Afghan people and has assured that under no circumstances he will agree to the Taliban’s demand.
Despite the assurance by the president, majority of Afghans see the Americans as the main player of the peace deal with the Taliban. They are afraid; Americans might break a deal with the Taliban agreeing to all their demands and pressurize the Afghan government to follow through.
In the final version of the resolution of the Peace Jirga, there is no clear and definite article mentioning the changes in the constitution, as Mr. Abdullah mentioned during the interview.
According to the mechanisms defined in the Afghan constitution, only the Loya Jirga has the authority to amend the constitution and the members of Loya Jirga must be consist of members of the Misrano Jirga, members of Provincial Council, members of the Parliament and members of the District Council.
Since, Afghan government has not been able to hold district election; the criteria to complete the Loya Jirga members to amend the constitution cannot be met at this time.
