List of Presidents of Afghanistan

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)

Mohammed Daoud Khan

19091978

17 July 1973

27 April 1978

National Revolutionary Party

Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of the Armed Forces of Afghanistan Abdul Qadir Dagarwal

1944

27 April 1978

30 April 1978

People's Democratic Party

(Khalq faction)

Chairmen of the Revolutionary Council of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

Nur 3 Muhammad Taraki

19171979

30 April 1978

14 September 1979[1]

People's Democratic Party

(Khalq faction)

Hafizullah Amin

19291979

14 September 1979

27 December 1979

People's Democratic Party

(Khalq faction)

Babrak Karmal

19291996

27 December 1979

24 November 1986

People's Democratic Party

(Parcham faction)

Haji 6 Mohammad Chamkani

1947

24 November 1986

30 September 1987

Independent

Mohammad Najibullah

19471996

30 September 1987

30 November 1987

People's Democratic Party

(Parcham faction)

Presidents of the Republic of Afghanistan People's Democratic Party Mohammad Najibullah

(Parcham faction) (until 1990)

19471996

30 November 1987

16 April 1992 Democratic Watan Party

Abdul Rahim Hatef

1925

16 April 1992

28 April 1992

Democratic Watan Party

Presidents of the Islamic State of Afghanistan

Sibghatullah Mojaddedi

1926

28 April 1992

28 June 1992

National Liberation Front of Afghanistan

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

President of the Northern Alliance of Afghanistan

12

Burhanuddin Rabbani

19402011

27 September 1996

13 November 2001

Jamiat-e Islami
(Northern Alliance)

Presidents of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan[2]

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