One of the basic problems with Afghanistan's present political system has been its unaccountability, which has given rise to so many other problems in the country – including the discouragement of the democratic values and the increase in rampant corruption. The present setup of Afghan government is a highly centralized presidential form, with most of the authorities lying with the presidential office. The presidential office has turned into the most powerful body, which even considers itself above any sort of accountability that is against the norms and practices of a truly democratic country.
In a democratic country the ultimate authority lies within the people. The modern concept of state and government says that the sovereignty lies with the people. And ultimately, all the governments are answerable to the people. Moreover, to guarantee such accountability the modern states have established and strengthened their political systems in such a way that people have most of the power, though indirectly. However, in our country, Afghanistan, which claims to be democratic, the people are suffering because of the lack of any sort of accountability of the government and the deprivation of participation in the affairs of the state.
One of the basic ways the people can participate in the affairs of the state is through elections. Well-established and developed election systems can provide opportunities to all the members of the society to cast their votes and have their say in the making of the government. However, in Afghanistan this basic institution of democracy has not been able to function appropriately.
The last presidential and parliamentary elections were vehemently dominated by corruption and insecurity. The government that was formed as a result of the election was not in accordance to the will of the majority of the people. Most of the people because of the security concerns and many other problems could not even cast their votes. Moreover, the election fraud and misuse of power to influence voters also played dominant role in forming the government not fully favored by the people.
The proper and well-developed election process can play an important role in creating accountable government. A political party or a politician in order to be elected by the votes of the people tries to perform properly so that it gets chance of remaining in authority for a longer period of time. If the political parties and the contestants in the elections come to know that they can win the election even without the consent of the people, through illegal ways, they will never remain accountable to the people and would not care much about the public opinion. Afghan political scenario, at the moment, is facing almost a similar sort of situation.
Another issue of unaccountability arises when a system is made personality-oriented, wherein the individuals are prioritized on the basis of their actual or assumed personality traits. This property is mostly found in dictatorial and authoritarian forms of government. Such ideologies are basically the remnants of the monarchies that could be found long ago in human history.
Unfortunately, such systems are present in the contemporary world of ours and they may even exist under the disguise of democracy. The examples of such systems have mostly been highlighted in the current Arab Spring. The institutions, which can play a dominant role in establishing democratic culture and accountable system, are underestimated and even ignored in such systems.
Our country Afghanistan happens to be a similar country. The democratic institutions are ignored to a great extent while the political system circulates around the personalities. Even the election system is designed is such a way that promotes personality-worship. The absence of political parties and their influence within election system have made many overlook the importance of political parties which happen to be very important institution for the growth and institutionalization of democracy.
It is necessary for accountability that not only governmental institutions but also the private sector and civil society organizations must be accountable to the public and to their institutional stakeholders. Afghan government, on the other hand, has been formed in such a way that it is difficult to hold the Presidential Office accountable for its policies and actions.
It can do whatever it wants without standing accountable to its people. As a matter of fact accountability can be achieved when there is transparency and the rule of law. However, both these characteristics seem to be non-existent in Afghan society. Transparency and rule of law can be maintained when there is proper separation of power and the different organs of state can function on their own – independently.
In fact, judiciary and law enforcement agencies must be capable to hold the law as the top priority matter. In Afghan political system the separation of powers is not clear and the judiciary is composed of what the Presidential Office decides. Moreover, the powerful and the rich are mostly considered above the law and the poor and weak have to go through the 'quagmire of law and order system'. The present rise in corruption, which is now turning out of control, is because of the same fact that the powerful are not made accountable to the rule of law.
A thorough analysis of Afghanistan's political scenario will depict that currently the political processes are also being kept aloof of accountability along with the institutions. The current efforts for the reconciliation and reintegration processes are very much non-participatory and non-transparent.
As the major political oppositions are being kept away from the processes, a sort of ambiguity and distrust is being generated within the opposition circles and the people of Afghanistan. Moreover, there is a disadvantage of such an approach as well – it is likely to result in improper and incomplete outcomes of the processes, which will further generate controversies.
Afghanistan's Presidential office has in fact kept on striving to limit the power and authority to itself and on certain occasions has used the same irresponsibly. The need of time is to make the political institutions and processes accountable to the people through proper democratization of the political structure.