Feb. 5, 2002

In Pursuit of Peace for Afghanistan

Quadir Amiryar Helps Frame Stability in the Post-Taliban Era

By Thomas Kohout

In the waning days of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, the United Nations sought guidance from the leaders of four key opposition groups: the Northern Alliance, representing Afghanistan’s ethnic minorities in the north; the Rome group representing King Mohammad Zahir Shah, the former constitutional monarch who has lived in exile in Italy since 1973; the group representing Afghan refugees in Pakistan; and the Cypress group, representing Afghans who fled to neighboring Iran.

As those leaders met to decide the fate of a nation that has endured nearly 30 years of political turmoil, GW’s Quadir Amiryar, visiting professor of political science, CCAS, and Gelman Library manager for interlibrary borrowing, was among them. Amiryar’s participation in the delegation seeking to establish a democratic foothold in the landlocked, South Central Asian nation marks his third tour as a constitutional craftsman.
Amiryar, who holds three advanced degrees from GW and has served on the University’s staff since 1976, participated in the formation of Afghanistan’s first democratic constitution in 1964. Later, after the fall of the Soviet Empire in 1993, he was called upon to lend his legal and diplomatic talents to the establishment of a democratic system in Tajikistan. So when a coalition of doctors, lawyers, and diplomatic professionals contacted Amiryar in the summer of 1999 about raising global awareness about the harsh circumstances which had befallen Afghanistan, the choice was an easy one.

“I thought, as an Afghan-American, that I should do something about it,” explains Amiryar. “Therefore, I joined this Cypress peace movement. We were explaining who the Taliban are, and who is supporting them, and why they are there.”

It was during a meeting of the group in Geneva, Switzerland, that they first learned of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. When the report of the tragedy came, the meeting ground to a halt.

“We were so disturbed and saddened that we canceled the meeting,” says Amiryar. “I was so numb, it was as if something had happened to me, as if somebody had stabbed me or something like that.”

Prior to the attacks, Amiryar says the group found it difficult to raise awareness for what they saw as a growing crisis. Even as Taliban artillery units used centuries-old statues of Budda for target practice, governments around the globe toyed with officially recognizing the oppressive regime.

After Sept. 11, however, the international community was more receptive to the warnings coming from Cypress.

“We were encouraged that the world was finally taking Afghanistan seriously,” says Amiryar. “We realized the possibility for the liberation of Afghanistan was finally there. Before that, we were not hopeful. The UN and the allies increased their efforts for peace in Afghanistan, they called upon these four groups — Rome, Cypress, Pashaur, and the Northern Alliance — to meet.”

Prior to the United Nations conference in Bonn, Germany, that would establish a road map to democracy, Amiryar and his colleagues set out to disarm the potentially divisive discussion. First, they announced the seven-member board of directors for the Cypress group would not contest for cabinet positions in the fledgling democracy. Because their mission was peace, the group felt the announcement would keep them focused as well as help the Bonn meetings run more smoothly.

“Everybody was contesting for seats,” Amiryar explains, “by not contesting there were four more seats to satisfy the others. We didn’t want to contest for political power, all that we wanted to do was volunteer our services in a bona fide way, with no thought of reward.”

Next, the group met with King Shah to see if they could find some common ground to merge their groups, reducing the number of organizations, yet expanding the reach of their voices in the dialogue.

“We wanted to see if we could reduce our numbers from four groups to three, then maybe two, and eventually one,” says Amiryar. “The idea was to bring these groups closer together, so they would be ready when the Bonn conference began.”

Amiryar says the former king was interested in seeing a democratized form of administration established in Afghanistan, such that Afghans would follow the basic principles of democracy, a rule of law, separations of powers, and a role for women in Afghanistan. Amiryar recalls, “He reminded us that those were his accomplishments and he would like to see them returned to the country. We, of course, agreed saying, ‘That’s why we are here.’ ”

In Bonn, the agenda focused on establishing a road map for the transition of Afghanistan from a state of war to a state of peace. They decided on a three-stage process: interim administration, transitional government, and government after an election. The first step was the formation of an interim administration, and consideration for the security of the interim administration inside of Afghanistan.

The mission of this interim administration would be to prepare for the convening of the emergency Loya Jirga, a grand national assembly. It’s a traditional form of national consultation during emergencies or crisis in the country, consisting of tribal elders, representatives of civic societies, representatives of professional associations, the sitting administration, members of the cabinet of the sitting administration, and members of the Parliament, if there is a Parliament.

The second mission of the interim administration is drafting a constitution, and the establishment of the transitional government. The interim administration, comprised of 30 members, including a prime minister and five deputy prime ministers, will be in place for six months. The transitional government, in place for two years, will convene the regular Loya Jirga and will approve or deny the constitution in preparation for national elections.

The original constitution Amiryar helped craft in 1964 will serve as the framework for the new government of Afghanistan. The interim administration will have the benefit of hindsight when crafting an updated constitution, according to Amiryar, especially with the section on civil rights and women’s affairs. If the make-up of the transitional government is any indication, the vision of these leaders has already paid dividends, symbolic or otherwise, for Afghanistan’s female population. Two women were named to cabinet-level positions — Sima Samar will serve as deputy prime minister for women’s affairs, and Suhaila Seddiqi will serve as health minister. By western standards, this may not seem like a major accomplishment, but according to Amiryar, the pair are the first women to serve in such a capacity since the monarchy was toppled in 1973.

 

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