The Supreme Court has issued a statement condemning the remarks by the US Deputy Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan David Pearce that those members of the Court whose official tenure has ended should be terminated. Calling it interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, Head of the Judicial Branch of the Supreme Court Dr. Abdullah Attayee has termed it meddling in the Presidential elections.

The US Deputy Special Envoy had said that those judges whose constitutional tenure had ended should be replaced and their service terminated. It is a demand that the political parties, civil society and local Afghan media have been making for last two years. Almost half of the judges and the Chief Justice at the Supreme Court are serving beyond their retirement age. The President has been asked since last year to replace and introduce a new Chief Justice for the Court. However, no decision has been made yet. There were attempts to bring another loyalist to the position. Names of the current Independent Election Commission Chief Fazal Ahmad Manawi and Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf have been in the highlight, but the President has yet to fill those positions with legitimate and neutral replacements. Appointment of a loyalist will raise more questions about the neutrality and efficiency of the judiciary. It becomes furthermore controversial due to the fact that the Presidential elections are to be influenced with such an appointment.

President Karzai has rejected the parliamentary proposal of the independency of the Election Complaint Commission body, to be replaced with a special judicial commission from the Supreme Court. With all loyalists controlling the judiciary, it would make the foundation of pre-poll rigging so strong that there will not be much need for maneuvering on polling day actually. With a loyalist chief of the IEC and Chief Justice, the President wants to ensure his favored candidate sweeps the elections next year.  Such an engineering will certainly take us into crisis and eventual descent into chaos.

What the US Deputy Special Envoy has commented is not only a just and legitimate concern, but a lawful demand made by the Afghan political opposition and civil society long ago. The President needs to replace the positions at the court soon and confirm a neutral candidate for the chair of the IEC—one of the most important bodies for the power transition and our insurance for stability in the wake of concerns regarding the 2014 NATO withdrawal.