Afghanistan Government - 1986

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Official name: Democratic Bepublic of Afghanistan

Type: Communist regime backed by multidivisional Soviet force

Capital: Kabul

Political subdivisions: 29 provinces with centrally appointed governors

Legal system: not established; legal education at Kabul University; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Branches: Revolutionary Council acts as legislature and final court of appeal; President of Council acts as chief of state; Cabinet and judiciary responsible to Council; Presidium chosen by Council has full authority when Council not in session; Loy a Jirga (Grand National Assembly) supposed to convene eventually and approve permanent constitution

Government leaders: BABRAK Karmal, President of the Revolutionary Council and head of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (since December 1979); Soltan Ali KESHTMAND, Prime Minister (since June 1981)

Suffrage: universal from age 18

Political parties and leaders: the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), the sole legal political party, has two factions—the Parchami faction has been in power since December 1979; members of the deposed Khalqi faction continue to hold some important posts; the Sholaye-Jaweid is a much smaller pro-Beijing group

Communists: the PDPA claims 120,000 members

Other political or pressure groups: the military and other branches of internal security are being rebuilt by the Soviets; insurgency continues throughout the country;

widespread opposition on religious grounds; widespread anti-Soviet sentiment

Member of: ADB, Colombo Plan, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, K)AO, IDA, IDB—Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, INTELSAT, ITU, NAM, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WTO, WSG; suspended from OIC in January 1980

NOTE: The information regarding Afghanistan on this page is re-published from the 1986 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Afghanistan 1986 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Afghanistan 1986 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.