33 Countries of Origin’ Profiles

14 The politics of Afghanistan consists of the council of ministers, provincial governors a nd the national assembly, w ith a president s erving as the head of state a nd commander-in-chief o f th e Afghan Armed Forces. The nation is currently led b y President A shraf Ghani w ho is backed by tw o vice presidents, Abdul Rashid Dostum a nd Sarwar Danish. I n the last decade the politics of Afghanistan h ave been influenced by NATO c ountries, particularly the United States, in an effort to stabilise and democratise t he country. In 2004, the nation's new c onstitution w as adopted and a n executive p resident was elected. The following year a general election t o choose parliamentarians to ok place. Hamid Karzai w as declared the first ever democratically elected head of state in Afghanistan in 2004, w inning a second five-year term in 2009. T he National Assembly is Afghanistan's national legislature. I t is a bicameral body, composed of the House of the People a nd the House of Elders. T he first legislature was elected in 2005 and the current one in 2010. Members of the Supreme Court w ere appointed by the president to form the judiciary. Together, this new system is to provide a new set of checks and balances t hat was unheard of in the country. Economy Heritage Foundation Afghanistan’s economic freedom is graded for the first time in the 2017 Index, reflecting the improved availability of key economic data. Over the past decade, the country has achieved rapid yet volatile economic growth. Construction and agriculture have been the key contributors to economic expansion. Afghanistan became a member of the World Trade Organization in 2016. Political uncertainty and security challenges remain formidable. The rule of law continues to be fragile and uneven across the country; the inability to deliver even basic services reliably has eroded public confidence in the government; and systemic corruption has undermined the effectiveness of the courts, the banking sector, and other parts of the economy. Afghan Government Joshua Foust