On July 17, 1973, former Prime Minister Mohammad Daoud Khan led a coup against Afghanistan’s last king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, overthrowing the monarchy system and setting the stage for a republic system to take shape in Afghanistan.
TOLOnews reporter Haseeba Atakpal discussed the origins and history of the republic system in Afghanistan with analysts.
“A republic system is governance by the people, it means that the people directly govern the national sovereignty through their representatives,” said Abdul Sattar Saadat, a political analyst.
For a second time, a republic system in Afghanistan took shape after the downfall of the Taliban regime in 2001.
The current system consists of a national assembly, judicial body, executive body and other institutions such as provincial councils and district councils.
“It is a system which encompasses all minorities, all ethnicities and all institutions feel enfranchised based on their share,” said Shamsul Haq Arianfar, member of Jamiat-e-Islami party.
Two decades have now passed since the establishment of the republic system in Afghanistan. Today Afghanistan has achieved major gains in various fields such as women’s rights, press freedom and democratic principles.
With all this, the republic system has been transformed into the most important hot issue between the Taliban and the Afghan government. The Taliban has insisted on the dissolution of republic system. But the Afghan government and the political leaders have said that maintaining the republic system is their red line.
Some experts believe that if the republic system in Afghanistan is substituted with a new system, the people's right to vote will be taken away and social justice and equal rights will be destroyed.
“If emirate (term used for Taliban’s system of governance) accepts this inclusivity, if an emirate accepts the rights of women, the rights of men, the rights of youth, the rights of civil society institutions, the private institutions and cultural diversity as the people want them, then it does not remain an emirate,” said political analyst Faramarz Tamanna.