KABUL - President Ashraf Ghani has reportedly issued an order directing government institutions that all executive decrees and orders will from now on be overseen and executed by the Presidential Palace's Office of Administrative Affairs. The move could mark an unprecedented step to consolidate power to the president.

Afghan political commentators have expressed shock and outrage at the news, calling it an obvious step toward authoritarianism. Others suggested the move exposed obvious tensions between the president and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.

News of the order came in the form of a letter received by TOLOnews. In the first and second articles of the five paragraph order, it is stated that all ministries and government institutions are obliged to process all recommendations and documents included in the president's authority through the Office of Administrative Affairs.

The Office of Administrative Affairs is then directed to assess the received documents in accordance to the prevailing laws and regulations and refer the draft of the order and decrees issued by the president and his VPs and submit them to the president.

"If decisions are made separately without consulting the opposing side, in the first step, they come out of national unity government and the national unity government moves toward segregation and this would further weaken the government," university professor Tahir Hashimi said in response to the order.

Other commentators have expressed concerns that the consolidation of executive power could be a major turning point for the Afghan government. "The history reveals that authoritarianism never succeeds in Afghanistan, but rather it causes fights; therefore, authoritarianism isn't supposed to have place in Afghanistan's political history," Civil Society Association head Aziz Rafaee said.

The Office of Administrative Affairs and the office of the Chief Executive have yet to comment on the order. (Tolonews)