Afghanistan beats Kenya in four-day cricket match, will face Scotland in final of the Intercontinental Cup
Afghan bowler, Hamid Hassan
In Nairobi today, Afghanistan defeated Kenya today by 167 runs in a ICC (International Cricket Council) Intercontinental Cup match. With this win, Afghanistan is now on the top of the points table and will face off against Scotland in the final match. The final is scheduled to be held in Dubai in December.
The four-day match started on October 2nd and from the very beginning, Kenya was in trouble. The Afghans started off with a big bang as captain Nawroz Mangal put the the team in a great position with a bristling unbeaten 168. Also, Karim Sadiq, Mohammad Shahzad and Mirwais Ashraf posted half-centuries. On day two, Afghanistan continued the domination. Bowler Hamid Hassan ripped through the Kenyans to give the Afghan team a 304-run first-innings lead. Afghan opener Jawed Ahmadi accomplished a half-century and left Kenya 470 runs behind and still requiring five wickets. On day three. the Kenyans rallied hard, but the Afghans were still in control and much closer to victory. On the last day, Hamid Hassan’s fantastic bowling left the Kenyans with no hope and sealed their defeat.
Summary: Afghanistan 464 (Mangal 168, Ashraf 80, Otieno 4-99) and 207 (Ahmadi 55, Ngoche 5-39, Otieno 4-44) beat Kenya 160 (Waters 73, Hassan 5-70) and 344 (D Obuya 79, Ouma 68, Hassan 6-87) by 167 runs.
October 5, 2010
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Posted in: Afghan Sports News
New building for school in Herat; Seminar for teachers started in Bamiyan
According to a press release issued by the Afghan ministry of education, a stone laying ceremony for a new attachment building for the Atishee High School in Herat province was held today. The new building will take 2 months to build at a cost of $19,300, and it will have 5 classrooms. The ceremony was attended by education department officials, influential members of the community, teachers, as well as students.
Yesterday, an Afghan ministry press release stated that a six-day seminar for teachers started in Afghanistan’s central province of Bamiyan. The press release said that 40 teachers attended the seminar. The purpose of the seminar is to help teachers improve their overall teaching skills in order to more effectively teach their students. The seminar is made possible by a cooperation between UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) and Bamiyan province’s education department.
October 3, 2010
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Posted in: Education, Reconstruction and Development
Video: Bridge dedication ceremony in Farzah District, Kabul province
October 1, 2010
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Posted in: Job Creation, Reconstruction and Development
Road construction projects underway in Faryab, Kabul, Parwan and Bamiyan provinces
Earlier this week, Afghanistan’s Public Works Ministry announced that a 7.7 kilometer road will be built in Maimana, the capital of Afghanistan’s northern province of Faryab. The project will cost $2.4 million and it is scheduled to take one year to complete. The ministry said that the government has given the construction work to a local Afghan company because they want to boost the private business sector in Afghanistan.
Yesterday, the mayor of Kabul, Muhammad Yunus Nawandesh, told reporters that a project to asphalt the Parwan-sea road, Badam Bagh Square, Lab Jar road, Chelmetra road, Tajor Sultan High School road and Malika Soraya road has started. A total of 5.2 kilometers of road will be asphalted once the project is completed. The work is expected to take 6 months to complete. Kabulis hope that once the project is completed, it will help reduce traffic congestion in the city.
Today, Afghanistan’s Public Works Ministry announced that work on a highway between Parwan province and Bamiyan province has started. The road will be 104 kilometers long and 11 meters wide, and it is scheduled to take one year to complete. Once the work has been completed, travel between the two provinces will be much easier and faster, and it will improve the economy as it will be safer to take goods to markets and it will reduce travel time.
September 30, 2010
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Posted in: Afghanistan's Economy, Job Creation, Reconstruction and Development
Revenue increases in Samangan and Herat
In Afghanistan’s northern province of Samangan, the head of the coal mining enterprises told Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN) that revenues from the Dara-e-Sauf coalmine has tripled. 300 million afghanis has been made in the first six months of this year, compared to the 102 million afghanis during the same period in 2009. According to the Dara-e-Sauf district chief, Ahmad Ali Hussaini, more than 1,400 tonnes of coal are being extracted daily. “The mine in Dara-e-Sauf was discovered in 1966 by locals and in 1967 it was surveyed by experts from the former Soviet Union and Germany. At that time, coal reserves were estimated at 150 million tonnes”, the PAN report said. The governor of the province told Tolo news that the increase in revenue was mostly due to the “absolute security in the province, and also the closure of some illegal mine diggings”. The industry keeps thousands of Afghans employed.
Afghan media had also reported earlier this week that Afghanistan’s western province of Herat has had a customs revenue increase of 36 percent over the past 6 months. A customs official told PAN that revenues during the first 6 months of last year was 4.51 billion afghanis. This year it has reached 6.15 billion afghanis. Items such as fuel, vehicles, food, medicine clothes and reconstruction material are imported via Herat, and the government raises revenue by taxing these items. Besides the increase in revenue, the customs department also provides jobs for 3,000 people.
1 US dollar = about 45.16 afghanis
(as of September 28, 2010)
September 28, 2010
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Posted in: Afghanistan's Economy, Job Creation, Security in Afghanistan
Construction has started on a new building for a high school in Balkh
Construction on a new school building for the Aliabad high school in the Nahri Shahi district of Afghanistan’s northern province of Balkh has started. A press released issued by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education states that the cost of the construction project is estimated to be around $300,000, and that it will take 6 months to complete.
The work will be done by the Middle East Ariana Construction Company, and once completed, the building will have 20 classrooms, 4 administrative rooms, a security guard room, 10 privies, and a surrounding wall. The building will also be equipped with tables and chairs for the students.
September 26, 2010
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Posted in: Education, Reconstruction and Development
New clinic buildings inaugurated; maternal mortality rates drop; health ministry to receive $4.35 million
Three new single-story health clinic buildings were inaugurated today in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Afghanistan’s northern province of Balkh. The new buildings are located in the Kart-e-Noor Khuda, Kart-e-Shad, and Ali Chopan areas of the city. The cost of the construction project which was $450,000 was provided by the Indian government. India’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Gautam Mukhopadhaya was present in the inauguration ceremony.
Also today, Dr. Suraya Dalil, Afghanistan’s Acting Minister of Public Health (MoPH) told reporters in Kabul that maternal mortality rates have dropped in Afghanistan. She said that maternal mortality rates per 100,000 live births has decreased from 1,600 in 2002 to 1,400 in 2010. Also, mortality rate for newborns dropped from 165 per 1,000 newborns in 2002 to 111 in 2008, and the under-five mortality rate dropped from 257 in 2002 to 161 in 2008. Dr. Dalil said that more access to vaccinations and expansion of Afghanistan’s health facilities were the factors behind the decrease.
Yesterday, Dr. Dalil said that the government of Italy will provide the ministry with $4.35 million in assistance. She said that the money will go towards improving the hospitals in Afghanistan, new equipment and vehicles such as ambulances will be purchased, more training will be provided to Afghan health workers and that some clinics will be renovated.
September 26, 2010
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Posted in: Health News, Reconstruction and Development
Afghan National Army Gets 29 More Female Officers
Women from the first graduating class of the Afghan National Army Female Officer Candidate School. Photo by Laura R. McFarlane.
Yesterday, a graduation ceremony was held for 29 Afghan women who completed advanced training, and are now 2nd lieutenants in the Afghan National Army. There are already close to 300 women in the Afghan Army, however, these women are the first to have graduated from a formalized training program. The women learned basic military skills, leadership, and they trained to become finance and logistics officers.
This is a big step for Afghan women, because during the Taliban rule, they weren’t allowed to leave the house without a male escort and couldn’t even go to school. “I always wanted to join the military,” said Afghan 2nd Lt. Habiba. “After the Taliban left I wanted to join. I want to serve more for my people and my country.”
“I am very happy today that we have 29 girls graduating” said Afghan Maj. Fahima, one of the female instructors. “I hope that these girls who have graduated from here do not forget their lessons and show for the people that Afghan girls can serve in military.”
September 24, 2010
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Posted in: Security in Afghanistan, Women's Rights
Afghanistan and China sign agreement on railway construction
Wahidullah Shahrani, Afghan Minister of Mines
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and the state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) signed an agreement today in Kabul in which the Chinese firm agreed to construct a railway corridor in Afghanistan.
MCC will construct a railway corridor from Aynak Copper Mine in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Logar to eastern Torkham and northern Hairatan border towns. Logar is 60 km south of the capital city of Kabul. “This northern railway is part of a wider plan to extend the Afghan rail network to connect Afghanistan to ports in Iran and Pakistan,” Afghanistan’s Minister of Mines, Wahidullah Shahrani told the media today.
Shahrani also told the media that the railway corridor will not only be used for transporting mineral deposits, but will also be used for the transportation of goods and passengers as well. According to the Ministry, MCC has also committed to employ Afghan workers as much as possible, and at all levels of the project.
September 22, 2010
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Posted in: Afghanistan's Economy, Job Creation, Reconstruction and Development
School building inaugurated in Parwan province
Governor Abdul Basir Salangi
Afghan education officials, Parwan’s provincial governor Abdul Basir Salangi, students, and teachers, attended an inauguration ceremony for a newly constructed 2-story school building, according to a Ministry of Education press release today.
The building is for the Ghulam Ali Girl’s Middle School in Bagram district, which is located in central Parwan province. The $207,000 of funding for the project was provided by the United States Provincial Reconstruction Team. The land the school was built on was donated by the local people.
The building which took 9 months to complete has 16 classrooms, 8 administrative rooms, 10 privies, a room for guards, and a drinking water well. The school was also provided with tables and chairs – both for the classrooms and for the administrative rooms. The new building resolves space issues for 478 students currently studying in the school.
September 21, 2010
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Posted in: Education, Reconstruction and Development, Women's Rights
New hospital to open in Khost; development projects announced in Farah and Kandahar
This fall, Khost City will have a new 100-bed hospital, according to a NATO news release. Work is nearly complete on the hospital, which will have an emergency room, male, female and children’s wards, mid-wife and maternity wards, x-ray and oncology departments, laboratories, inpatient and outpatient care facilities, as well as office space for medial personnel. The International Medical Corps will supply the hospital with the necessary equipment. The current Khost hospital has only 50 beds, and it serves a population of nearly 1 million people. With the construction of this hospital, more people will have access to quality healthcare and more jobs will be created for the people.
In Afghanistan’s western province of Farah, provincial governor Rahool Amin visited Pur Chaman district to announce 6 new development projects for the district. The projects include: a micro-hydro plant to develop electrification, solar street lights, a boy’s school, an expansion of a health clinic, a security wall around a girl’s school, and a bee keeping facility to promote the district’s honey production. Pur Chaman’s 40,000 residents rely mostly on honey and almond production to make a living.
Finally, Pajhwok Afghan News reported today that 150 kilometers of footpaths and an 80 kilometer sewerage network will be built in the capital of Kandahar province. 50 kilometers of footpaths have already been built in the city, so this new project will bring it to a total of 200 kilometers of footpaths.
September 20, 2010
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Posted in: Afghanistan's Economy, Education, Health News, Job Creation, Reconstruction and Development
2 vocational schools to be constructed in Logar
Afghan media reported recently that in Pul-e-Alam, the capital of Afghanistan’s Logar province, two new vocational schools will be constructed – one related to agriculture and the other to mechanics. Students will study for two years and will be given a certificate. The goal is to help train Afghans so that they can find jobs and be productive members of the society. Abdul Mateen Jafar, an Afghan education department official, told Pajhwok Afghan News that “Logar was an agricultural province and establishment of the agriculture school would help improve the condition of farmers in the province.” The schools will be built with assistance from the Czech Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT). The cost of the project is estimated to be more than one million US dollars.
September 16, 2010
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Posted in: Education, Job Creation, Reconstruction and Development
