Preface
Recently, Jamiat-e Islami Party divided into two. The split in the old party has, once again, raised a series of questions over the nature, structure, condition, and future of parties in Afghanistan. Prior to that, Hezb-e Islami Party, Hezbe-Wahdat-e Islami Party, Harakat-e Islami Party, and other parties have split into smaller factions. These cases illustrate that parties are moving toward the opposite direction of their natural course in Afghanistan; meaning that, they experience rift rather than strength, development and nationalization. Instead of taking them [party members] or the parties to power, or making them an opposition outside the government, this job creates them more headaches and makes them spend the energy, which was supposed to be used for bringing reforms, on each other’s destruction and relegation.

The following themes are discussed in this article: How to improve the condition of the parties? How to increase people’s confidence in the parties? Moreover, how parties become able to play their role inside a multi-party system, or outside as a position or opposition?

Why Parties Do Not Grow in Afghanistan?
While writing these lines, seventy-one parties are registered with the Afghan Ministry of Justice.  Among them, ten parties have established during the invasion of the former Soviet Union as Jihadi groups, and after the defeat of the Taliban, they, then, became registered as political parties in the Ministry of Justice.  

A large portion of these parties, however, does not have democratic procedures. Most of the party leaders remain as heads of parties for a lifetime, and their sons inherit the power after their decease or dismissal. Jamiat-e Islami, Jabha-ye Nejat-e Melli, Hezb-e Mahaz-e Melli, and Jonbish-e Islami-ye Afghanistan are the examples. Following the decease of former Jamiat-e Islami leader, his son Salahuddin, following the decease leade of Jabha-ye Nijat-e Melli leader SebghatullahMojaddi, his son ZabihullahMojaddidi, following the decease of Mahaz-e Melli leader Pir Sayed Ahmad Gailani, his son HamedGailani, and following the dismissal of Jonbish-e Islami leader, his son Batur Dostum govern the party affairs.

The main standard of advancement in political parties is merits that come to surface with the help of internal mechanisms; however, Afghan political parties lack such mechanisms; and even if they possess them, they are not utilized properly. For example, every party shall have a conflict resolution mechanism in order for the conflicts to remain limited to the party and become resolved internally. The recent split in the Jamiat Party showed that there was not any conflict resolution mechanism existed inside the party, and if there was, it was not used. 

The most important factor in a party is for the democratic atmosphere to govern the party, and the party decision shall be made based on democratic principles. Accountable leadership, the existence of consultation procedures with party members, and transparent election of candidates are the main points of establishing democracy inside the party. Furthermore, the internal work and operations of a political party shall, in a way, be linked to some legal principles (Party Policy and Strategy). More importantly, internal party principles have got a vital role here. The internal works of political parties influence how the needs, interests, and social demands are responded by the parliament. Legal basis and principles for internal affairs of a party might include the principles that are necessary for the internal party democracy; for example, the principle of internal elections for the leadership positions or representation of women in the leadership.
If the election of leadership or representation of women in the leadership is considered as two distinct factors, and, to apply them to the political parties in Afghanistan; then, you will easily understand the on-going condition of democracy inside the parties.

Among the registered seventy-one parties of Afghanistan, only one of them, Hezbe-e Mawj-e Tahawol-e Afghanistan, has a female leader. It elaborates on the percentage of women's presence inside the leadership of the parties.     
Parties, more than every other political and social organization, shall be based on democratic principles and shall be in possession of democratic mechanisms. For instance, the leadership election, inside-party elections, financial and all other mechanisms shall be based on principles that, from one hand, to pave the way for circulation of individuals, and on the other hand, regulate democracy inside the party. In a very few numbers of Afghan parties, the election of eldership is, however, carried out through the principles of inside-party democracy. For further elaboration of the matter, see the following table.

 
The above table is comprised of parties registered with Ministry of Justice for the last one and a half-decade; however, the leadership of a few of them has become transferred. Only in one party, the change in leadership took place through elections, and in all other cases, the brother or son has become the successor of the former resigned or deceased leaders. The leadership of the remaining parties is yet to change, and thus, it elucidates that the circulation of individuals and transfer of leadership is largely not taken care of in the parties. 

Factional Ideology
Most of the seventy-one parties registered with Ministry of Justice are extremist or moderate ethno religious parties. The Tanzims (organizations) that had established in the exile, split following the Taliban defeat, and later became registered with the Ministry of Justice are also among them. 
A portion of these parties is linked to the former members of former Khalq and Parcham parties that still believes in Socialism and are based on the basis of Socialism and Sovietism.   
A few of these parties believe in Liberal Democracy and Secularism.

The most prosperous among all these parties are Islamic/religious-ethnic parties that, often, clash with democracy, and receive privileges from the government from this address.   
Moreover, these parties have a serious impact on vote in elections as well. For instance, most of the Islamic/religious-ethnic parties had supported Dr. Abdullah in the 2019 Presidential Elections, and obviously, Dr. Abdullah has received more votes in areas where these parties had roots. Liberal and secular parties are yet to be part of the equation, and hence, are not counted by the government either. Members of these parties are treated as individuals, and thus, they are given posts at the government individually not from the address of their party. The best example of this trend is Hanif Atmar, a member of Haq and Adalat Party, who is, as an individual, hired as the acting-Minister and minister-designate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Role of Political Parties in Promoting Afghan Democracy
Political parties are considered as a prerequisite of democracy. As political sciences describe, no democracy can thrive without the existence of political parties. In other words, democracy can carry out its duty only when political parties have existed in the society, and if there were no parties, democracy could not have the ideal outcomes achieved.

For instance, James Bryce (1838-1922) has got a perspicuous opinion in this regard as he says: “political parties can never be ignored, and thus, their existence is a must for democracy. No country is independent without political groups, and no one can elaborate that how governments work without the existence of political parties.” According to well-known sociologist, Max Weber, political parties are children of democracy, of the mass franchise, of necessity to woo and organize the masses.

On one hand, if parties are a necessity to woo and organize the masses, as Max Weber describes, they, from the other hand, play a decisive role in balance and continuity.
Only a handful of parties, from among seventy-one registered parties, are involved in political issues to some extent; however, they cannot put enough pressure on the government to change their policies due to lack of regular and active structures and politics. Of course, there are still a number of reactions of parties that have been taken seriously by the government. 

The problem of parties in Afghanistan is that they cannot fulfil their factional responsibilities in a proper manner. For instance, parties shall have electoral competition. Every party shall have candidates and shall collect votes for them and make them successful. Moreover, parties shall compile public policies and share them with their members and public masses. Another duty of parties is to raise political knowledge and sense of the people. Criticizing the government and authorities and observing the system is another duty of the parties.

Furthermore, parties have got a valuable role in elections which is an important principle of democracy. For example, they encourage the people for political participation and casting votes in elections. Thus, the number of voters increase, and the elected government receives more legitimacy.
The issue in Afghanistan is, however, different. In Afghanistan, even the members of political parties inscribe themselves as “independent candidates” during the elections. A very few people run for Parliament as representative/candidate of their party. Parties have also got a lesser share in encouraging people; and therefore, the turnout is very low in the elections. Afghan parties appear during elections only to get privileges, and hence, are inactive other times. The problem is that most of them are not national and do politics by name of family, ethnicity, and tribe, and for that reason, they have remained restricted.

In other countries, parties result in political stability and play a role in security maintenance, corruption prevention, etc. In our country, the main source of political destabilization is the parties, in person, or their dependent and independent candidates that make trouble after elections. Afghanistan is yet to have the culture of accepting defeat, and thus, considering the near past, the political processes have always been the victim of skirmishes. In the longer-term, it also has harmed the legitimacy of the Afghan system as well as the people's confidence in democracy. In 2014 and 2019, the power was shared just to prevent clashes of political groups and currents.

Moreover, political parties have not got specific stands regarding issues. Sometimes, they support the governmental policies that are considered as “injustice” by masses. The reason is that the parties have got very few shares in raising the political sense and knowledge of the people. Today, public opinion is against parties and factional politics, and it shows that the parties have not done their job well. At least, they could not have the support of their countrymen. Lastly, there are very few parties that have criticized or challenged the government in order to step back from its incorrect policies. These are the reasons that neither parties flourish nor they, in person, take a necessary share in democracy to thrive.

Political Parties and Corruption
People in countries without democracy have got limited opportunities to take part in the government. A person can stay for decades in power there. The good point of democracy is that the power is circulated; for example, Presidential term in most of the democracies is for five years and a person can become President only for two terms. Such limitations provide an opportunity for people and parties to reach power and serve the country as a leader of authority. But in countries like Afghanistan where parties are not acting properly and its democracy is not institutionalized well, opportunities to take power or work on higher positions are not equal for everyone. Consequently, the role of parties is so important in this regard.
In countries like Afghanistan where parties are sidelined, taking higher positions in the government is mostly based on having ties with power networks rather than having talent.

In a worst-case scenario, someone could take power through money as well. In Afghanistan, most of the positions, in which income is generated or way is paved for corruption are sold by the help of corruption networks. Therefore, people without money cannot get hired in higher positions. However, if parties become strengthened, two goals will be achieved. One, the standard for reaching positions will be merit-based. The reason is that parties have long-term plans and strategies, and they are followed only by talented people. Two, parties can also help in the prevention of corruption. Experiences from other countries show that if a ruling party is involved in corruption, the people will not vote in favor of them for a long time in order to take power, and thus, they avoid corruption.

In Afghanistan, where parties are inactive and not involved in politics, their members are hired in government as individuals, and thus, see no hinder in their way to corruption. They think that it is an opportunity to do corruption and earn as much as they shall not be obliged to reach power once again. Meanwhile, the general assumption is that the posts are bought by money, and thus, a number of people are involved in corruption in order to guarantee their future.


Government Policies and Parties
Political parties have got an impact on government policies and their implementation mechanisms in all over the world. Having the people support, they put pressure on the government and other political-economic players in order to bring changes in their policies. 

In October 2016, the Kolin Group of Companies cut down 6666 olive trees in Turkey’s Yirca village of Manisa in order to build a coal power plant. The group cut trees following the Cabinet’s rapid decision to expropriate the land, but Turkey’s Council of State (Danıştay) overturned the decision, blocking the plant’s construction. Danıştay did it after Turkey’s environmental activists regulate the people and encourage them to protest under the leadership and guidance of an international environmental organization (Greenpeace). Danıştay had said that their decisions are not subject to revision and the public does not have interest in the construction of power plants in the olive jungle.

We have got a lot of such examples where the government overturned their decisions or revised their policies due to the pressure put by people. Considering these points, governments need public support in order to implement their decisions. Likewise, another great project at Turkey was Istanbul-Izmir highway where thousands of trees got cut; however, the people did not demonstrate; and its reason is shown to be the harmony of political parties and other groups with the government in the implementation of this project.   

In research, using a nationally representative survey, Kevin Mullinix finds that knowing that their party certain legislation means that people are more likely to support that legislation and that this effect is more pronounced when parties are highly polarized. This effect is not obsolete, however, when an issue is personally important, people will not blindly follow their party’s lead.    

However, the deteriorated situation of parties in Afghanistan has made them to not have the power to observe the government policies, and mobilize the people against government policies or to have them changed. Parties without the support of the people are, sometimes, obliged by the government to support its policies. In addition, more badly, there are claims that even governments in Afghanistan, unlike the rest of the world, put pressure on political parties not to criticize government policies and not to raise voice against them.  

In 2018, a number of parties asked the government to cancel the voters’ registration process for it was not transparent. On July 15, only one day after the demand of the parties, President Ghani, in his speech, harshly criticized the parties and even challenged their position. He said: “Who are these politicians that speak on behalf of the people? Who has elected them and given them authority to talk on behalf of people?”
The words of President Ghani means that he either does not officially recognize the parties so far or does not value them. In such circumstances, neither parties could grow or observe governmental politics nor the government could attract the real support of the people for its policies.
In such conditions of the parties, the government openly implements the policies that are in the sole benefit of itself. 

Political Equations and Parties
As hinted at above, parties are given less share in government as parties; however, the party members are given more privileges as individuals. 
This trend, from one hand, has put negative on public confidence in the factional struggle, and thus, everyone thinks that they should struggle individually, and the job has made it easy for the government to deal with parties smoothly. The public believes that a party follows the criticism policy until its leader is given a job in the government; then, the party is turned into a supporter of the government. The enticing policy of parties has paved the way for parties to be sidelined from political equations. Undoubtedly, Afghan parties have an impact on election results; however, their impacts are largely stemmed in ethno religious leanings rather than ideological leanings. In other big political deals, parties are not asked to a large extent, or they do not have the capacity to do so.

Therefore, the political parties have initiated peace efforts parallel to the government. In a series of these efforts, a number of leaders of political parties and politicians met the Taliban in Moscow on February 5, 2018. They discussed ending the war and making peace there. On February 28 and 28, 2019, Afghan politicians and leaders of parties, once again, met Taliban representatives in a ceremony held for the celebration of 100 years of Afghanistan-Russia diplomatic relations. 

In November 2018, President Ghani announced a new peace plan that became reckoned against the commitments made with political parties. According to this plan, the power to negotiate was given to a group of 12 individuals headed by Abdul SalalmRahimi, former director of President’s Chief of Staff now Minister of State Ministry of PeaceAffairs. The remaining members of the group were government officials. On March 27, 2020, the state Ministry of Peace Affairs declared a 21-member negotiation team that will be negotiating with the Taliban under the chairmanship of MohmmadMasoomStanekzai, former director of National Directorate of Security (NDS) and present advisor to President Ghani.   

Some members of this delegation are also government officials that have sparked the criticism of some parties. Political parties say that the negotiating delegation for talks with the Taliban is not inclusive and is not able to advance parley with the Taliban. They claimed that the political parties are not consulted in the preparation and organization of the delegation. However, the Afghan government stresses that the parties’ share has always been taken care of. The government stands on the delegation for peace talks is that it is comprised of representatives of government, women, political parties, religious scholars, youth, and civil society organizations, and will be talking to the Taliban on behalf of Afghans.

Lack of Opposition
Lack of agreement is called opposition in politics. The opposition has existed in different kinds in various countries and systems.
Generally, the opposition is a group of people or a political group that operates in a multi-party system, and continuously criticize the government or ruling party’s policies or oppose them.    
In politics, the opposition is comprised of one or more parties or regular non-party groups that oppose government policies. Meaning that a party or group opposed another one. In most of the cases, the opposition is not agreed with what the government does.

The Afghan system is a liberal democrat political system. The Afghan Constitution and other laws, as a part of this system, guarantee the freedom of parties. However, the parties are yet to be in a position to enter the government as a party or become an opposition against the government.  

Despite the freedom of parties in the last eighteen years, they were not able to make public confidence in their work and to have an ideal role in the government. There are some factors behind the situation. First, the parties could not grow properly and regularly. There are enough people in Afghanistan who think of politics or enjoy politics; however, the percentage of membership in parties is too low. The picture formed by wars of the last few decades still has cast a shadow on parties, and hence, the parties could not root in the people in the last eighteen years. For that reason, the parties are remained weak and are not able to create opposition against the government. Usually, the opposition is considered as an alternative; however, when the people compare the government and existing political parties with each other, they believe that, perhaps, the government might have problems and shortfall but the existing parties or, sometimes, the existing opposition cannot be counted as an alternative.

The second point is that the parties are unfamiliar with opposition politics. They do not have the patience for longer struggles; and therefore, want to take power as soon as possible, even if the power is taken as an individual rather than as a party.
The government also getting used of the disarray and does not allow a powerful opposition to become formed. The government hire the main protagonist of parties in government and silence the entire party through political bribery and enticing policy, and through it, make the party lose its criticizing capacity. Also, such hiring is considered as Payment for Silence inside the parties. Such small and big factors that have prevented Afghanistan from having a powerful opposition established against the governments.

Conclusion
First and foremost, the parties should take care of their internal structure and bring reforms inside the parties, which include the creation of mechanisms for election, leadership, gender, and other relevant issues. Secondly, the parties should have regular strategies and policies for the future of Afghanistan and should have human resources, technical skills, and practical strategy and strong will to implement them. Thirdly, the parties should become nationalized, shall have the capacity to do politics as opposition, and in view of that, they shall empower their capacities in order to be able to criticize the government policies, and grab the public support while needed.

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End Notes:
Manisa, BanuŞen. Natural gas’ lobby behind dismissal of coal plant on olive groove, head of firm claims, .hurriyet daily, December, 2014.
Mullinix,Kevin.Political parties shape public opinion, but their influence is limited, LSE US Center, April, 2017.
President Ghani reacts against demand of party leaders, DW, July 2017
Press Release on Determination of Negotiation Team of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, State Ministry for Peace Affairs, Arg, 7 Hamal, 1399
Amiri, Sayed Sharif. Parties: The Formed Team Does Not have the capability to negotiate with Taliban, Tolo News, Kabul, 7 Hamal, 1399.
Reactions to determination of negotiation delegation with Taliban in Afghanistan, IRNA, Hamal, 1399.
Innocent E. Chiluwa and Sergei A. Samoilenko. The Handbook of Research on Deception, Fake News, and Misinformation Online,USA,  IGI Global,1 edition,  2019.

Author: Hafiz Hamim

Hafiz Hamim is a senior fellow for current affairs analysis with the Kubha Dialogue. He is a member of Kubha’s Advisory Board. He has been working with deferent institutions and media outlets. Hamim writes on Afghan foreign policy, international relations, and regional affairs. His research interests also include state building, Af-Pak politics, and Afghan-US relations.