The media watchdog Nai has called on the Government to bring the Right to Information draft law into legislation process. Strongly criticizing the delay, Nai says the draft has been kept on hold by the Council of Ministers without any reasons for two years now. 

Nai blames some circles in the Presidential Palace for blocking the draft law. A Nai official while addressing a press conference in Kabul said, "In the law it has been stated that if government institutions avoid providing information, then they will be prosecuted. Because of this, the Council of Ministers is delaying the approval of the law. We demand that the new law be referred to the Lower House as quickly as possible, so that the Parliament ratifies it after completing the necessary deliberations."
The constitution has an article on general rights to information, but the Karzai Administration has been blocking the legislation due to the fact that the law would bind to disclose information about the dirty business of the high-ranking government officials involved in corruption and favoritism.

Afghanistan is in the list of countries where there is no legislation about access to information. Freedom of information is one of the important key principles of democracy and factor for its success. Access to information held by state is a legal right-to-know in most real democratic countries. Afghanistan being a democratic state should have the legislation, but unfortunately the Karzai Administration has kept the nation deprived of the right.

For a new-born democracy like Afghanistan to flourish, the Government should make sure to bring a freedom of information act and debate about it in the parliament. Though we have relative media freedom compared to our Central Asian neighbors, or even Pakistan in several aspects, absence of legislation on access to information is a hurdle for the booming Afghan media. Rise of media outlets is one of the significant accomplishments credited to administration of President Karzai.

One of the challenges for journalists in Afghanistan is lack of such legislation, while Government officials are usually uncooperative and not willing to share any information on request. While making any report, journalists need accurate information from government offices, but the general behavior in this regard is very unhelpful.

President Karzai must ask the Council of Ministers to refer the draft law to parliament for discussion and approval before the upcoming Presidential elections.