Dec 25, 2021: A government spokesman says the Taliban have dissolved the Afghan Election Commission, a panel that oversaw elections under the previous Western-backed administration.
Spokesman Bilal Karimi on Saturday quoted the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission as saying, “there is no need for these commissions to exist and operate.”
“If we ever feel a need, the Islamic Emirate will revive these commissions.”
According to the commission’s website, the IEC, established in 2006, was responsible for managing and overseeing all types of elections, including the presidential election.
Aurengzeb who was head of the commission says this hasty decision by the government will have consequences and the country’s ills will never likely be solved if those institutions don’t exist to support the elections.
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”.
Karimi said authorities had also dissolved two other government departments this week – the Ministry of Peace and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. The Taliban have already shut down the former administration’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs and replaced it with a ministry to promote virtue and prevent evil.
The Taliban government meanwhile is campaigning for the international community to restore billions of dollars in frozen aid, and this time pledged more moderate rule.
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