The Taliban said on Tuesday they will temporarily adopt a 1964 constitution that granted women the right to vote but eliminate any elements they disagree with. The Constitution from the era of Muhammad Zahir Shah was ratified 57 years ago. The Taliban’s acting justice minister Abdul Hakim Sharaee said that the Constitution will be implemented temporarily during their interim government, according to Khaama Press.
The Taliban’s acting justice minister issued a statement saying the Islamists planned to introduce a constitution used during Afghanistan’s short-lived golden age of democracy, but only briefly and with amendments. It further read that the Constitution will be implemented in a way that does not violate Sharia law and the principles of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. “The Islamic Emirate will adopt the constitution of the former King Mohammad Zahir Shah’s time for a temporary period,” Mawlavi Abdul Hakim Sharaee said. The Constitution of King Zahir Shah was also temporarily implemented during the first years of Hamid Karzai, before the world’s superpowers intervened in the country. But anything in the text found to conflict with Sharia law and the principles of the Islamic Emirate would be discarded, he added. Nearly six decades ago, before the world’s superpowers intervened in the country, Afghanistan enjoyed a brief period of constitutional monarchy during the reign of King Mohammad Zahir Shah. Almost 60 years ago, Afghanistan enjoyed a short period of constitutional monarchy during the reign of King Mohammad the Hirshire. The King ratified the Constitution a year after he came to power in 1963 and led nearly a decade of parliamentary democracy before overthrowing in 1973.
