The Prime Minister of Afghanistan is a currently vacant post in the country.
For a time, the position was the head of government. The position was created in 1927, and was appointed by the king, mostly as an advisor, until the end of the monarchy in 1973. Until 1963, the king always appointed one of his relatives as Prime Ministers. The office was abolished in 1973 when Mohammad Daoud, a former Prime Minister, deposed the king in a coup and established a republic ruled by Daoud, who got the title of President. In 1978 Daoud was killed during a communist coup. The Communist government revived the office of Prime Minister that year, and it remained throughout the reign of the Communist and post-Communist governments. The title was abolished when the Taliban took power in 1996, but the deputy leader of the Taliban was often known as the Prime Minister throughout its rule, which ended in 2001. Until August 1997, the government which the Taliban had ousted, which remained in rebellion until the end of the Taliban in 2001 had a Prime Minister in the government, but that office was abolished in 1997. Due to recent political unrest, Afghanistan does not currently have a Prime Minister, although there seems to be a practice emerging of combining the two roles of Prime Minister and President. Hamid Karzai is currently the democratically elected president. The future of the position is still pending, though it may just be relegated to being chief diplomat, head of interior, or just the head of the majority of the lower house of the national assembly.
Partial List of Former Prime Ministers
See also Heads of Government of Afghanistan
Last updated: 05-23-2005 14:27:15
