While Afghanistan has been going through an extremely difficult time, the National Unity Government remained bogged down in internal disagreements for most of its term. The president and the chief executive officer as government partners did not manage to overcome their differences and concentrate on steering the country out of the current predicament until almost the end of their term. The internal differences in the government still continue unabated even as the timeline for the upcoming presidential election has been announced and potential presidential runners have registered their names for the race. President Ghani issued a decree firing Mohammad Mohaqeq, the second deputy of the chief executive officer who spurned the decision as illegitimate similar to the majority of previous presidential decisions. The Office of the Chief Executive insists that the president doesn’t have the authority to sack Muhaqeq because he was appointed as the head of the National Unity Government on the basis of a power-sharing deal rather than the votes of people.
The position of the Chief Executive did not exist in the Constitution. Such a scenario was expected to unfold right after President Ghani concurred with Abdullah Abdullah to form a national unity government despite his strong opposition to establish what he called a “shareholding government”. There were concerns from the very beginning that such an unconstitutional structure will fuel chaos and disobedience within the government hierarchy since there was no clear mechanism as to the delegation of government powers. The concerns came true over the past four years and a half. The Office of the Chief Executive proved a real headache, and continues to be the main barrier to unanimity in the government.
Over the last almost half a decade, the majority of President Ghani’s rash decisions did more harm than good to the government’s credibility. The recent example is the removal of Muhaqeq from his post. If the president did not have the power to enforce his decision, he should not take it, but when he made the decision, he has to defend it as the person in charge of the country. Such decision by President Ghani has badly undermined the government’s credibility and popularity. Before making such decisions, he has to thoroughly examine their enforceability and possible fallouts. If he concludes that he cannot enforce his decrees or manage their aftershocks, he should not further discredit the regime in the eyes of people.