Announcement

Launch of First Dari and Pashto Legal Glossary Aids Legal Professionals

4,000-term glossary is the first of its kind in Afghanistan.

Kabul, Afghanistan  | Sunday, March 15, 2009

Photo: USAID/ARoLP

The 4,000-term Glossary of Dari and Pashto Legal Terminology.

A lack of legal reference materials has hampered the development of rule of law in Afghanistan.  To provide Afghanistan’s lawyers and judges with the resources they need to implement the law effectively, USAID, in partnership with Kabul University, the Supreme Court, and the Ministry of Justice, recently launched the first-ever Dari and Pashto legal glossary.

The glossary is the first of its kind in Afghanistan, and the only reference to include terms in both of the country’s national languages.  It offers users a common understanding of terminology unique to Dari- and Pashto-speaking legal professionals, who have previously relied on dictionaries published in other countries.  The last glossary of legal terminology written in Afghanistan was published in 1972 and included only Dari and English references.

The 4,000-term glossary is currently being distributed to legal professionals from the Supreme Court, Ministry of Justice, Attorney General’s Office, courts, and law faculties throughout Afghanistan.  Professor Nasrullah Stanekzai of Kabul University’s Law and Political Science Faculty, praised the publication and said, “This glossary will go a long way toward easing problems caused by the lack of a legal glossary in Dari and Pashto.”