Afghanistan after US withdrawal: Could Karzai seek a third term in office?

President Barack Obama meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in New York. (Photo: AAP)

Author: Anna Verney, ANU

There is a real danger that Afghanistan’s President Karzai might venture to bypass constitutional limitations on seeking a third term in office when his current tenure expires in 2014.

The 2004 Afghan constitution is ostensibly modelled on the US governmental system of a separation of powers, with the presidentially-led executive responsible to an independent and popularly-elected bicameral parliament. Read more…