Rights
No operative constitution since 2021
The 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.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — The Islamic Emirate exercises effective control but is not recognised as the lawful government by the United Nations or most states. Nothing here should be read as recognition.
Governing law
- Constitution of Afghanistan (2004) — SUSPENDED, not in force
- Decrees of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan2021 onward, not consolidated
In practice
Practitioners face a genuine gap: pre-2021 statutes are sometimes applied where they do not conflict with the Emirate's reading of sharia, but there is no authoritative list of what survives. The Supreme Court has been reconstituted with clerical judges, women are barred from practising law, and the Independent Bar Association was dissolved. Any assertion about enforceable Afghan law in 2026 carries real uncertainty, and this atlas does not paper over it.