Finally Mr. Karzai the President of Afghanistan announced the establishment of the constitutional commission. The commission is to draft a new constitution for a new Afghanistan that has emerged after the long years of war in that country. Expectations are extremely high for a constitution that would provide for a free, democratic and prosperous Afghanistan to stand as equal among other democratic societies in the world. The key word here is democracy. And the difficult task that the commission is confronting is to match democratic values with the religious and traditional values of the Afghan nation. This is not to say that there may or may not be compatibility between democracy and the traditional values of the Afghan society. The problem is when you try to conciliate these in legal terms applicable to a society that is widely confused, suffers from poverty and illiteracy, is alienated from the economic resources, and is in dire need of reparation of its infrastructure. Also important is a consideration of the fact that the long years of war deprived the younger generation from acquiring of a suitable education and that illiteracy is rampant and that poverty is endangering peace and security of the country.

Therefore a study of the society for which a working constitution is to be drafted becomes important. This is not to say that the constitution is a document only for Afghanistan today, but that it would and should guide the nation also during its future. The document is prepared for Afghanistan of today and tomorrow.

A closer look at some of the acute issues regarding the writing of the constitution highlights subjects such as the role of religion, the need for accepting or rejecting of secularism, human rights including the rights of women, individual freedoms such as freedom of religion versus restriction of religious propagation, institutionalization of democratic values and bodies, inclusion or exclusion of the traditional great assembly or the Loya Jirga, formation, terms of reference and powers of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Of special importance is the application of justice based on either contemporary laws or those of the Sharia or Islamic Law or a clearcut definition of the roles of both or either.

Safeguarding the rights of all Afghans notwithstanding their ethnic origin, linguistic affiliation or religious preferences must be considered thoroughly and provided for in an equitable manner with clearcut formulas that would not leave reason for dispute and to help in the elimination of conflict.

The allocation of executive power in the form of a centralized government versus peripheral freedom must be weighed and reflected in the constitution.

Issues such as a national religion or religions, a national language or languages and provisions for uniting all Afghans around a national flag and a truly Afghan administration representing all sects of the population in proportion to their numbers and capabilities must also be taken into account in drafting of the new constitution.

Democracy must be defined in the preamble and should be safeguarded against emergence of dictatorial elements in the forms of military leaders or tribal chieftains of either great military power of powerful tribal origins. Equality under law, must be emphasized and all forms of discrimination shunned.

These were but a few of the major issues that the constitutional commission is facing in its effort to either draft a new constitution or adopt parts or chapters of the former Afghan constitutions which were drafted by Afghan scholars such as members of the current commission.

To do all of this the commission may need to collect and consider views of experts in constitutional laws, as well as all other areas of expertise that serve the Afghan society. This means that not only lawyers, but all other professionals as well as general public should be consulted and their views must be considered. For this, there must be a mechanism which should be shared by the commission with all Afghans and Afghan friends at large.

Some research institutions should be approached or authorized to conduct studies on the constitution and come up with suggestions for consideration of the commission. The Institute for Afghan Studies, for example, could be one such research source that would contribute views and opinions on the subject. There would be other similar institutions and many scholars that could be approached for this purpose.

In any event, the commission has a formidable task and huge issues to ponder and problems to overcome. If it carries out its task in a scholarly fashion in overcoming these problems it would be hailed as a nation builder commission in Afghan history. It is therefore apparent that the commission should not allow any other interest, foreign or domestic, but the national interests of Afghanistan to influence its work. 10/11/02