Loya Jirga

A jirga is an assembly of tribal leaders that functions as a consensus-based decision-making body within Pashtun communities, deriving its name from the Pashto word jarga and operating according to Pashtunwali, the traditional Pashtun social code; the institution serves to settle disputes among Pashtuns and, in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, among members of other ethnic groups influenced by Pashtun custom, with decisions reached through collective agreement rather than by any single individual's authority. A loya jirga, meaning great council, is the grand form of this assembly, historically convened to elect heads of state, approve constitutions, or address matters of major national importance, with such councils documented as operating since at least the early eighteenth century; the most historically significant example occurred in July 1747, when Pashtun chiefs gathered at Kandahar and elected Ahmad Shah Durrani as their leader, an event that established what became the modern Afghan state. In its operating method, a jirga typically has participants sit in a circle to deliberate; when a dispute arises between individuals, a mediator, often a religious leader or other respected community figure, convenes a jirga composed of elders drawn from both sides of the conflict, and after discussion the group reaches a binding collective decision, with no fixed time limit on proceedings, which continue until consensus is reached.