Taliban scraps poll panel, peace ministry

Govt dubs them unnecessary institutes, even as the world adopts a ‘wait and watch’ approach before recognising the Kabul regime.

Islamabad: The Taliban dissolved Afghanistan’s two election commissions as well as the state ministries for peace and parliamentarian affairs, an official said Sunday.

Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban- run government, said the country’s Independent Election Commission and Electoral Complaint Commission have been dissolved.

He called them “unnecessary institutes for the current situation in Afghanistan.” He said if there is a need for the commissions in the future, the Taliban government can revive them.

“If we ever feel a need, the Islamic Emirate will revive these commissions.”

The Taliban swept to power in August as a Western-backed government imploded in the final stages of a chaotic military withdrawal by the United States.

The international community is waiting before extending formal recognition to Afghanistan’s new rulers. They are wary the Taliban could impose a similarly harsh regime as when they were in power 20 years ago — despite their assurances to the contrary.

Both elections commissions were mandated to administer and supervise all types of elections in the country, including presidential, parliamentary and provincial council elections.

Karimi said the Taliban also dissolved the Ministry for Peace and the Ministry of Parliamentarian Affairs. He said they were unnecessary ministries in the government’s current structure.

The Taliban had previously shut down the former Women’s Affairs Ministry. Established in 2006, the IEC was mandated to administer and supervise all types of elections, including presidential, according to the commission’s website.

“They have taken this decision in a hurry … and dissolving the commission would have huge consequences,” Aurangzeb, who headed the panel up until the fall of the previous regime, told a news agency.

“If this structure does not exist, I am 100 percent sure that Afghanistan’s problems will never be solved as there won’t be any elections,” said Aurangzeb, who like many Afghans goes by only one name.

Halim Fidai, a senior politician in the previous regime, said the decision to dissolve the electoral commission shows the Taliban “does not believe in democracy”.

“They are against all democratic institutions. They get power through bullets and not ballots,” said Fidai, who was governor of four provinces over the past 20 years.

Before the Taliban takeover, several electoral commission officials were killed by armed groups.

Karimi said the authorities had also dissolved two government departments this week – the ministry of peace, and the ministry of parliamentary affairs.

The Taliban has already shut down the former administration’s ministry of women’s affairs and replaced it with the ministry for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice.

That ministry earned notoriety during the Taliban’s first stint in power in the 1990s for harshly enforcing religious doctrine.

The Taliban government is pressing the international community to restore billions of dollars in suspended aid and have pledged a more moderate rule this time around. —(Agencies)