Islamic Republic. Gained independence on Aug. 19, 1919 from the United Kingdom

Executive
Under Afghanistan's constitution, written in accordance with Islamic law    more... Executive
Under Afghanistan's constitution, written in accordance with Islamic law and adopted in January 2004, the president serves as both chief of state and head of government. A 27-member cabinet reports to the president as do two vice presidents. Ministers in the cabinet are appointed by the president and approved by the National Assembly.

The president and vice presidents are elected for five-year terms and are held to a two-term limit.

Hamid Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun, became interim president of Afghanistan in 2002 when the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance ousted the Taliban, the country's previous, hard-line government. Karzai was later voted to a five-year term in 2004. His vice presidents include Ahmad Zia Masood and Abdul Karim Khalili, each from Afghanistan's second and third largest ethnic groups.

Legislative
Afghanistan's National Assembly is made up of a lower house, the Wolesi Jirga, or House of People, and an upper house, Meshrano Jirga, or House of Elders.

Members of the Wolesi Jirga are provincial representatives elected by the registered voters of Afghanistan. They serve five-year terms. There are 249 seats in the Wolesi Jirga, allocated based on the size of each of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. Members monitor the actions of the government, make laws and, as written into the country's constitution, endorse or reject appointments of the president.

According to the constitution, about 15 percent of the lower assembly must be women, a stipulation inserted after Taliban rule ended, when women could not hold public office.

Members of the Meshrano Jirga are elected for three, four or five year terms. A third of the members are elected by Provincial Councils, a third by District Councils and the remaining third are appointed by the president. One hundred and two seats make up the upper house.

The Meshrano Jirga approves laws and the national budget, and plans for national development.

A special council or Grand Council known as the Loya Jirga may be convened by the National Assembly in special cases of national concern. The Loya Jirga, made up of members of the National Assembly, can amend the constitution and prosecute the president.

The idea of a Loya Jirga is a centuries-old Afghan tradition used to settle disputes. It was used in 2001 when hundreds of leaders from Afghanistan's many tribes convened to decide the future of the country and to create a transitional government and leader. In a difficult task, the Loya Jirga was forced to determine how best to divide power among the country's majority Pashtuns and minority Uzbek, Tajik and Hazara ethnic groups.

At the regional level, Provincial Councils are in charge of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. Each council is made up of between nine and 29 members depending on the size of the province. Council members are elected by registered voters and are responsible for the governance of the province. And one council member from each province is elected to represent the province in the Meshrano Jirga.

Judicial
Afghanistan's Supreme Court is known as the Stera Mahkama and is made up of nine justices, appointed by the president to 10-year terms. The country's constitution mandates that the Wolesi Jirga approve each justice.

High courts and appeals courts also make up the country's judicial system.

A separate court, established under the Bonn Agreement, is charged with investigating human rights abuses and war crimes.

Afghanistan's judicial system has come under intense criticism for imposing harsh rules based on Islamic Sharia law. The country's constitution states that Sharia be the dominant force in Afghan law.

In 2002, President Karzai confirmed as chief justice of Afghanistan's Supreme Court Fazul Hadi Shinwari, a hard-line Islamist who has sought to impose strict rules against women, including stating that women should be fully covered and should not travel without a male companion for more than three days at a time.

Afghan men and women can vote in elections as long as they are 18 years    more... Afghan men and women can vote in elections as long as they are 18 years old, a major change following the fall of the Taliban when women were not allowed to vote. An estimated 77 percent of registered voters participated in the 2004 presidential election, according to the U.S. Library of Congress. Despite some instances of intimidation during the 2003 and 2004 elections, monitors have found that Afghan elections since the fall of the Taliban have been mostly fair.

In 2003, President Karzai established the Interim Afghan Electoral Commission or IAEC. The commission is charged with aiding the government in preparing for national elections, overseeing electoral law and managing the voter registration process.

Afghanistan's first parliamentary election since the establishment of the new government was held in 2005.

Afghanistan's legal system is based on Sharia law, a strict form of Islamic    more... Afghanistan's legal system is based on Sharia law, a strict form of Islamic rule taken from the Koran. Prior to 2001 when the country's new government was formed, disputes were settled at the state level in local courts headed by religious male leaders. Tenets of the 1964 constitution were generally ignored in favor of Sharia law. Councils of elders, or jirgas, commonly made decisions at the local level, despite having had no legal standing under the constitution.

The 2001 constitution called for a rehashing of the legal system. Article 118 of the constitution called for lawyers and judges to have "a higher education in law or Islamic jurisprudence" and "sufficient expertise and experience in the judicial system of Afghanistan". While improvements have been made in large cities such as Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif, little is known about how much reform has taken place in rural areas.

Many analysts have criticized U.S. support for Afghanistan's constitution and its basis in Islamic law.

The issue was highlighted in March 2006 when an Afghan court sentenced Abdul Rahman to death for converting to Christianity. Rahman later fled the country for Italy.

"Islamic law does not consider conviction, imprisonment, or death for apostasy to be an affront to civilization," Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor and senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, wrote in March 2006. "That's the way it is."