2004 Constitution of Afghanistan
The 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan was the supreme law of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, which lasted from 2004 to 2021. It served as the legal framework between the Afghan government and the Afghan citizens.[1][2][3] Although Afghanistan (Afghan Empire) was made a state in 1747 by Ahmad Shah Durrani,[4] the earliest Afghan constitutional movement began during the reign of Emir Abdur Rahman Khan in the 1890s followed by the drafting in 1922 of a constitution.[5][6] The 1964 Constitution of Afghanistan transformed Afghanistan into a modern democracy.[7]
The constitution was approved by the consensus in January 2004 after the 2003 loya jirga.[3] The Constitution consists of 162 articles and was officially signed by Hamid Karzai on January 26, 2004.[1][2] It evolved out of the Afghan Constitution Commission mandated by the Bonn Agreement. The constitution provides for an elected President and National Assembly. The transitional government of interim president Hamid Karzai was put in place after the June 2002 loya jirga. The first presidential elections after the new constitution was in effect, took place in October 2004, and Karzai was elected to a five-year term. The first elections for the National Assembly were delayed until September 2005. The constitution was essentially abolished on August 15, 2021, with the overthrow and dissolution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan by the Taliban. In late 2022, Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada confirmed that the 2004 Constitution had been formally abolished on his authority.[8]