Students Given Inside Look at Parliament

AUAF students received an inside look at Afghanistan’s elected legislature during a visit to the National Assembly on 1 May 2008.

Approximately 15 students visited the Lower House (Wolesi Jirga) of the National Assembly (also known as the Parliament), and met with senior officials as part of a class trip led by
Professors Joseph Preville and Eric Merkt.  

Under the structures established at the Bonn Conference of 2001, Afghanistan supports a bi-cameral legislature. The Wolesi Jirga has 249 representatives, elected by district for a term of five years.

The visit followed discussions in class about constitutionalism. Sayed Ihsanuddin Taheri, an AUAF student and Secretary to the Office of Administrative Affairs, organized the visit on behalf of his classmates. "We had a class on the constitution and how laws are legislated. Discussion is a good way to achieve consensus and solve problems between the left and the right."

Students met with Deputy Secretary General Abdul Ghafar Jamshedee and Director General for International Relations Sayed Zaman Hashimi. They also had the opportunity to pose questions to the Secretary General of the Wolesi Jirga, Ghulam Hassan Gran.

AUAF student Nasria Pashtun inquired about accountability. If members of the Wolesi Jirga are not performing their duties to an acceptable standard, she asked, how are they held to account? Government oversight mechanisms are in place, said Secretary General Gran. Members are continually evaluated by an internal body established for that purpose.

"Students came away from the experience understanding the process of law-making and constitutionalism in their country," said Prof. Preville.

Wali Qaderi, a member of AUAF’s elected student government, extended his experience in student government to meetings of Afghanistan’s elected representatives, asking "is it difficult to get members to come to meetings?"