The legal system of Afghanistan
The constitutional position is contested and this entry states that rather than resolving it. The 2004 Constitution was suspended in fact after the Taliban takeover of August 2021; no replacement has been promulgated. The administration has stated that it governs in accordance with Hanafi jurisprudence and has directed courts to apply Sharia, issuing decrees and instructions rather than legislation passed by a representative body. Statutes from the republican period remain formally unrepealed in part and are applied selectively where judged consistent with Sharia. Users needing the position on a specific question should treat published pre-2021 law as unreliable evidence of current practice and take current local advice.
Legal tradition
Afghanistan belongs to the islamic law tradition. The constitutional position is contested and this entry states that rather than resolving it. The 2004 Constitution was suspended in fact after the Taliban takeover of August 2021; no replacement has been promulgated. The administration has stated that it governs in accordance with Hanafi jurisprudence and has directed courts to apply Sharia, issuing decrees and instructions rather than legislation passed by a representative body. Statutes from the republican period remain formally unrepealed in part and are applied selectively where judged consistent with Sharia. Users needing the position on a specific question should treat published pre-2021 law as unreliable evidence of current practice and take current local advice.
How power is divided
Centralised. 34 provinces are administered by appointed governors reporting to the central administration, with authority concentrated in the Amir and the leadership based in Kandahar. Elected provincial and district councils established under the 2004 Constitution no longer function.
Where law comes from
- Hanafi fiqh
- Stated basis of adjudication; applied by judges without a codified restatement.
- Decrees and instructions of the administration
- Issued by the Amir and ministries; the principal instrument of new rules.
- Pre-2021 statutes
- Partly unrepealed and applied selectively where judged consistent with Sharia.
- Customary dispute resolution
- Jirga and shura remain widely used, especially in rural areas.
The legal profession
The Afghanistan Independent Bar Association, established in 2008 and which had licensed several thousand advocates including many women, was taken over by the Ministry of Justice in November 2021 and its independent regulatory role ended. Licensing now runs through the ministry. Many practitioners have left the country or ceased practice, and women's ability to appear as advocates or to work as judges has been curtailed.
Law by topic in Afghanistan
- Property & LandOverlapping deeds and destroyed registriesLand title rests on a mix of formal deeds, customary claims and possession. Decades of conflict destroyed or duplicated registry records, so competing valid-looking deeds over one plot are common.
- Family LawHanafi fiqh applied directly, with severe restrictions on womenThe 1977 Civil Code chapters on marriage and divorce remain nominally in force but are applied through Hanafi jurisprudence. The 2009 Elimination of Violence Against Women law is no longer enforced and its dedicated courts were closed.
- Criminal Law2017 Penal Code displaced by hudud and qisas punishmentsThe 2017 Penal Code, which had consolidated Afghan criminal law and excluded corporal punishment, is no longer the operative instrument. Judges apply hudud and qisas penalties including flogging and execution.
- Employment & LabourLabour Code intact on paper, women excluded in practiceThe 2007 Labour Code sets a 40-hour week and annual leave, but the decisive development is administrative exclusion of women from most public and NGO employment.
- Tax LawIncome Tax Law still collected, plus a revived ushr and zakatThe 2009 Income Tax Law remains the basis for corporate and salary tax, and the Ministry of Finance continues to collect. Islamic levies — ushr on agricultural output and zakat — have been reintroduced alongside it.
- Civil ProcedureCivil claims heard by clerical judges without a published procedure codeThe 1990 Civil Procedure Code has no clear operative status. Civil disputes go before Emirate-appointed judges who apply fiqh directly, and much dispute resolution happens through jirga and shura outside the courts entirely.
- Constitutional LawNo operative constitution since 2021The 2004 Constitution was suspended after the August 2021 takeover and has not been replaced. Authority rests on decrees of the Islamic Emirate interpreted through Hanafi jurisprudence, with no legislature, no constitutional court and no published consolidated legal code.
- Business & CorporatePre-2021 commercial codes applied unevenlyThe Commercial Code and 2016 Company Law formally remain, and the registry at ACBR still issues licences, but application depends on local officials. Banking is severely constrained by sanctions and correspondent-banking withdrawal.
- Immigration & NationalityVisas issued, but exit restrictions are the live issueEntry requires a visa from an Afghan mission abroad. The more consequential rules concern departure: women require a male guardian for many journeys, and passport issuance has been intermittent.
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