Afghan Social Democratic Party (Afghan Mellat)

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Afghan Social Democratic Party - Afghan Mellat
د افغان ټولنپال ولسواک ګوند - افغان ملت
Leader Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady
Founded March 8, 1966 (1966-03-08)
Headquarters Kabul, Afghanistan
Newspaper Afghan Mellat Magazine
Ideology Ethnocentrism/Pashtun nationalism, Socialism and Social democracy
Official colors black, red & green
Website
http://www.afghanmellat.org

The Afghan Social Democratic Party, more commonly known as Afghan Mellat (Pashto: افغان ملت - Afğān Mellat; "Afghan Nation"), is a Pashtun nationalist[1][2] and a social democratic[3] political party in Afghanistan.

Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady is the leader of the Afghan Mellat.

Contents

[edit] History

Afghan Social Democratic Party was founded on March 8, 1966 by a group of influential bureaucrats associated with the ruling elites. However, it was officially declared on March 27 of that year.[4]

Ghulam Mohammad Farhad, an Afghan intellectual served as the first President of the party. Afghan Mellat looks after the interests of the Pashtun ethnic group and has its support only from them.[5] The party favors the ideas of Pashtunization of Afghanistan and a Greater Afghanistan (i.e. it claims the Pashtun-speaking parts of Pakistan for Afghanistan).[5] It has been called ethno fascist by its critics.[6][7]

In the 1969 parliamentary elections, Farhad was elected to the parliament.[6]

After the Saur Revolution in 1978, the party was banned. Farhad was imprisoned, but released in 1980.

In exile in Pakistan, the party operated under the auspices of the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan.

In 1986-1987, dialogues took place between the government and the party and some leading party members were released from prison.[6] However, the party chose to stay outside of the governing coalition. The relations with the government split the party into three factions; with one faction led by Shams-ul-Huda Shams, one by Qudratullah Hadad and the other by Mohammad Amin Wakman. It is Wakman faction that is currently led by Afghanistan's Finance Minister[8], Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady, the son-in-law of the NIFA leader Pir Gailani.[6]

Senior members of the party are, Amin wakman, Pashtonyar, Meranai, Rahmani and others.

The youths and junior member of the party actively been work for the party with in the 4 past years, Zubair Gharghasht from Khost province, has done a lot activities for the party during his membership. One of the active young member of the party in Kabul. Joined the party since 2005, he has published lots of articles regardin politics in Afghanistan and corruption of the Afghan or Karzai regime, most of the time treated bad by the local authorities and government.

[edit] Wakman branch

In 1995 Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady took over the Wakman branch. Under his leadership, the party toned down its Pashtun nationalist profile and sought support amongst non-Pashtuns.[9] The Wakman branch of the party is recognized by the Afghan government as the "Afghan Mellat Party"[10]

After the fall of the Taliban government, the party leader Ahady has been included in the government as Finance Minister. The party supported Hamid Karzai in the presidential election and receives support from Karzai. The party has around 10 MPs.[6] The party officially registered themselves in Afghanistan on May 16, 2004.

[edit] Shams branch

Shams-ul-Huda Shams applied for recognition of his party in 2004, but it was under Ajmal Shams, his son, that it achieved official recognition in May 2007 as "Afghan Mellat Milli Motaraqi Gwand - افغان ملت ملي مترقي ګوند".[11]

[edit] History of leaders

# Picture Leader From To Birth Death Notes
1 Ghulam Mohammad Farhad.jpg Ghulam Mohammad Farhad March 8, 1966 1984 - - -
2 Mohammad Amin Wakman.jpg Mohammad Amin Wakman 1987 1995 - - -
3 Anwarul Haq Ahadi.JPG Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady 1995 - - - -

[edit] References

  1. ^ Amin Saikal, "Modern Afghanistan: A History Of Struggle And Survival", p. 166
  2. ^ Gilles Dorronsoro, "Afghanistan: Revolution Unending, 1979-2002", p. 71, LINK in Google-Books
  3. ^ http://books.google.ca/books?id=b57aAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Afghan+Social+Democratic+Party%22&dq=%22Afghan+Social+Democratic+Party%22&ei=wTjdStKMAoaWNfnCnNEF, "The Afghan Social Democratic Party, ASDP, celebrated its 25th anniversary in Peshawar, Pakistan, on 8 March 1991. The ASDP is the oldest social democratic party..."
  4. ^ Emadi, Hafizullah. Politics of the Dispossessed Superpowers and Developments in the Middle East. New York: Praeger, 2001. p. 28.
  5. ^ a b Zalmay Khalilzad, "The Security of Southwest Asia", University of Michigan, 2006, ISBN 0566006510
  6. ^ a b c d e Ruttig, Thomas (November 2006) "Islamists, Leftists – and a Void in the Center. Afghanistan's Political Parties and where they come from (1902-2006)" Konrad Adenauer Foundation
  7. ^ Allan, Nigel J.R. (2003) "Rethinking Governance in Afghanistan" Journal of International Affairs 56(2): pp.193-202, p. 201
  8. ^ "Who is Who of Afghanistan" Institute for Afghan Studies (IAS)
  9. ^ "Political Parties: 10. Afghan Nation aka Afghan Social Democratic Party (Afghan Mellat)" Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty; from Internet Archive
  10. ^ "New Afghan party sets agenda, backs talks with insurgents" 30 May 2007 BBC Monitoring, South Asia - Political, Text of report by Mashhad Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran External Service on 29 May 2007
  11. ^ National Afghanistan TV, Kabul, in Dari, 1430 GMT 22 May 2007, as reported by BBC Monitoring South Asia

[edit] External links

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