United National Front (Afghanistan)

The Afghanistan National Front is a political party in Afghanistan.cite news
url=http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticleprint/2008/02/122575eb-8f5a-42b2-8dac-d519c58ecbf7.html
title=Afghanistan: Prosecutor Suggests 'Some People' Cannot Be Tried
publisher=Radio Free Europe
author=Ron Synovitz
date=Wednesday, February 6, 2008
accessdate=2008-02-09
quote=An opposition political movement to which Dostum belongs also has threatened "catastrophic consequences" if the ethnic-Uzbek general is put on trial. Sayed Hussain Sancharaki is the spokesman for the United National Front of Afghanistan -- a political group formed in 2007 by factional commanders and politicians who had once fought against the Taliban regime as the former Northern Alliance. ] cite news
url=http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/04/d0dfc5f9-e7de-4027-a98b-022e279abbe3.html
title=Afghanistan: New Political Bloc Unites Old Adversaries
publisher=Radio Free Europe
author=Ron Synovitz
date=Thursday, April 5, 2007
accessdate=2008-02-09
quote=] The group is as a broad coalition of former and current strongmen, commanders from the anti-Soviet resistance, ex-Communist leaders, and various social and ethnic groups.cite news
url=http://www.stratfor.com/afghanistan_re_creation_north_south_divide
title=Afghanistan: The Re-creation of the North-South Divide
publisher=Stratfor
author=
date=April 6 2006
accessdate=2008-02-09
quote=Meanwhile, former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani — a Tajik Islamist — announced April 3 the launch of a new political coalition called the United National Front. In addition to former communists, this group includes former mujahideen who participated in the 1979-89 fight against Soviet forces, the 1992-96 intra-Islamist civil war and the 1996-2001 struggle against the Taliban regime.] Its leader is former President of Afghanistan Burhanuddin Rabbani. Many of its members were formerly part of the similarly named United Islamic Front (better known as the Northern Alliance).

Reports of when the group was founded vary. Stratfor reported the group was founded on April 3 2006.
Ron Synovitz reported on February 6 2008 that the group was founded in 2007.

The ANF wants to secure unity in the divided country. It wants to amend the 2003 constitution to allow political parties to stand in elections, to change the electoral system from a single non-transferable vote system to a party-list electoral system and to hold direct elections for provincial governors. Some critics have linked the Front's formation to the calls to investigate war crimes committed during the Afghan Civil War.

Members include Mustafa Zahir (grandson of former king Mohammad Zahir Shah), ex-defense minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim, parliamentary speaker Yunus Qanuni, Vice President Ahmad Zia Massoud, former general Abdul Rashid Dostum, former communist era generals, Sayyid Mohammed Gulabzoy and Nur ul-Haq Olumi, and Hezb- Islami commanders, like Qazi Mohammad Amin Waqad] .The Front's exact size is unknown, but it claims to be backed by 40% of Afghanistan's Parliament.

In February 2008 Synovitz reported that members of the United National Front suggested that charges filed against Abdul Rashid Dostum could lead to civil war.

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