Afghanistan – The End of the Bonn Process

The Afghanistan of the new millennium represents a significant test of the latest attempts to allow the coexistence of Western law principles and Islamic law – an issue that has been accompanying the East–West relations since the first colonial relations. The meaning of the path followed by Afghanistan is fully and clearly outlined when we consider that from 1996 to 2001 the Talibans turned this country into an emblem of the strict enforcement of the shari'a and of a radical contrast to Western countries. The presence of Osama bin Laden turned Afghanistan into the base of a global network of Islamic extremism, which interpreted religion as a motive and a justification for the most heinous actions, aiming at countering global powers. After 11 September 2001, and the subsequent rapid repulse of the Talibans, the international community undertook to support the reconstruction of a country devastated by 23 years of war, immediately giving back the country sovereignty to the representatives of the Afghan people. The still undergoing process of reconstruction of democratic state structures was not therefore entirely ``imposed' from outside of Afghanistan; it was rather mediated by a national political class that is acquiring increasing legitimacy through the carrying out of democratic elections. A reconstruction process of Afghanistan on a sound basis cannot but take into consideration the history of a population that always and successfully opposed foreign rules, and that twice in the 20th century, in 1929 and in 1973, rejected the state visions inspired to the experiences of other countries. The history of Afghanistan is strewn with moments of confrontation and fight against ``modernity', in which ethnic and tribal dynamics always prevailed. These dynamics, although fragmented, were marked by a strong national identity, also based on the religious bond. However, it must be recalled that the constitution passed on January 2004, in compliance with the guidelines provided for in the Bonn Agreement of December 2001, represents the seventh constitutional charter Afghanistan has adopted over the last 80 years (1923, 1931, 1964, 1977, 1987 and 1990). The country therefore owns a remarkable judicial inheritance that also includes a significant tradition of protection of rights.