Afghanistan

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.