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This is a list of heads of state of Afghanistan. Afghanistan has only intermittently been a republic - between 19731992 and from 2001 onwards - at other times being governed by a variety of kings, emirs and (under the Mujahidin and Taliban regimes in the 1990s) Islamist rulers. The present constitution of Afghanistan grants the president wide powers over military and legislative affairs, with a relatively weak national parliament. These were a subject of considerable controversy when debated by the country's loya Jirga in December 2003. However, they were seen by the interim administration and its Western backers as being essential to securing the stability of Afghanistan. The current president Hamid Karzai became the first ever democratically elected head of state in Afghanistan on December 7, 2004. He has begun the process of rebuilding his nation. The National Assembly is Afghanistan's national legislature. It is a bicameral body, composed of the House of the People and the House of the Elders. The current legislature was elected on September 18, 2005. The members of the Supreme Court were appointed by the president to form the judiciary. Together, this new system is to provide a new set of checks and balances that was unheard of in the country. Also, the system is quite new, implementation of which began only 2004, just after decades of war between different factions and warlords. The remnants of the warlords are almost non-existent. The United Nations and other governments and organizations play a vital role in rebuilding this new democracy's political environment.
Heads of state
(Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office)
# Name Born-Died Took office President of the Republic of Afghanistan Left office Political Party Independent
(until 1976)
19091978
17 July 1973
27 April 1978
Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of the Armed Forces of Afghanistan Abdul Qadir Dagarwal
1944
27 April 1978
30 April 1978
19171979
30 April 1978
14 September 1979[1]
Hafizullah Amin
19291979
14 September 1979
27 December 1979
Babrak Karmal
19291996
27 December 1979
24 November 1986
1947
24 November 1986
30 September 1987
Independent
Mohammad Najibullah
19471996
30 September 1987
30 November 1987
19471996
30 November 1987
1925
16 April 1992
28 April 1992
Sibghatullah Mojaddedi
1926
28 April 1992
28 June 1992
10
Burhanuddin Rabbani
19402011
28 June 1992
27 September 1996
Jamiat-e Islami
Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Mullah 11 Mohammed Omar
c. 1959
27 September 1996
13 November 2001
Taliban
12
Burhanuddin Rabbani
19402011
27 September 1996
13 November 2001
Jamiat-e Islami
(Northern Alliance)
12
Burhanuddin Rabbani
19402011
13 November 2001
22 December 2001
Jamiat-e Islami
(Northern Alliance)
Hamid Karzai 13
1957
22 December 2001
7 December 2004
Independent
Hamid Karzai
1957
7 December 2004
Incumbent
Independent