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29 Fletcher F. World Aff. 157 (2005)
Rites and Rights in Afghanistan: The Hazara and the 2004 Constitution

handle is hein.journals/forwa29 and id is 159 raw text is: Rites and Rights in Afghanistan: The Hazara and the 2004 Constitution JUSTIN DESAUTELS-STEIN' INTRODUCTION It seems rather natural to respond with ambivalence to the news of Afghanistan's recent foray into constitution-making. On the one hand, the emer- gence of a national charter allegiant to the United Nations, international law, and the promotion of women's rights makes for a hopeful optimism.2 Perhaps after decades of near-constant warfare and centuries of intermittent ethnic strife, Afghanistan is finally turning a rough and ugly corner towards a genuinely self- determined democratic prosperity. What the United States has done in Afghanistan, according to Donald Rumsfeld, is a breath-taking accomplish- ment.3 On the other hand, 2004 marked the arrival of Afghanistan's sixth con- stitution since 1923. This less than encouraging track record includes attempts from agents at various ends of the political spectrum to consolidate what many scholars have cited as being amongst the world's most ethnically fragmented states.' Given this past and what was effectively the imposition of an American- styled constitutional order in the wake of a post-September 11 American inva- sion, a so-called realism might predict a quick and unavoidable collapse. In this view, the situation is hardly promising-it is frustrating, if not frightening. This article is agnostic with respect to the normative stakes in Afghanistan's breath-taking accomplishment. Part Two instead focuses on the plight of one of Afghanistan's less fortunate ethnic groups: the Hazara. The Hazara possess unique ethnic physiognomy and status as Shi'i in a predominantly Justin Desauteh-Stein is a graduate of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a JD candidate at the University of North Carolina School of Law. In 2003 he worked as a member of the Afhanistan Legal History Project at Harvard Law School's Islamic Legal Studies Program. VOL.29:1 WINTER 2005

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