New School and Police Headquarters Opened In Herat Province

Herat, Afghanistan

Earlier this week, Afghan and foreign officials opened a new school in Seyawashan village in Gozara district and a new police headquarters building for Herat’s 6th District.

The school covers nearly 800 square-meters; it contains ten classrooms, and is equipped with all general services, including a multi-purpose sports field.

The police headquarters is a 1,000 square-meter, two-story building. It has a solid masonry outer fence, 20 general service offices and a guard shack. The building was built by local Herat companies. Funding for both projects were provided by the Italian government.

Photos:

The New School In Herat's Seyawashan Village

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New Police Headquarters Building In Herat

April 7, 2010 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Education, Reconstruction and Development, Security in Afghanistan

Afghan cricket team gets another win – Hong Kong no match for the Afghans!

Man of the Match - Mohammad Nabi

Today at the 2010 Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Trophy Elite Semi-Finals, Afghanistan beat Hong Kong by five wickets. The Hong Kong team were the defending ACC Trophy Elite Champions. Commentators noted that the Afghan team bowled and batted very well today, and there were many Afghan fans in the stands to cheer them on. The Man of the Match Award went to Mohammad Nabi for his outstanding performance in the game.

Hong Kong won the toss and chose to bat.

Hong Kong: 205 all out off 48.1 overs (H.Butt 63; M.Nabi 3-30, H.Hassan 3-53) / Afghanistan: 210 for 5 off 44.4 overs (M.Shahzad 35, A.Stanikzai 55, R.Ahmadzai 38, M.Nabi 35)

Afghanistan will next play against Nepal for the ACC Trophy Elite Final.

April 7, 2010 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Afghan Sports News

Another road project in Paktika inaugurated

Paktika Province

Yesterday, an Afghan official told the media that a road construction project was inaugurated in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Paktika. The $140 million construction project is scheduled to be completed in 18 months. It will begin at Urgun and go to Sarobi district.

April 7, 2010 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Reconstruction and Development

A Successful Afghan Woman: General Khatool Mohammadzai

General Khatool Mohammadzai is Afghanistan’s first ever female paratrooper, and she is currently, the most senior female officer in the Afghan National Army. She has been in the Afghan Army for 26 years, and through out all these years, she’s made more than 500 parachute jumps.

See video below about General Khatool Mohammadzai

April 7, 2010 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Security in Afghanistan, Women's Rights

Cornerstone laying ceremony for new Afghan Defense University held at Qarghah

Afghan cadets at the ceremony

Today, in Qarghah (Kabul province), a cornerstone laying ceremony was held to officially establish the site of the soon to be built Afghan Defense University (ADU) headquarters, and the new site of the National Military Academy of Afghanistan, which is modeled after the well known U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The ADU will educate the future military leaders of Afghanistan. It took two years to demine the 1,500 acres of land that the ADU will sit on. It is a two phase, $200 million construction project. Once completed, the ADU will consist of a headquarters building, classrooms, dining facility, library, medical clinic, post exchange, and the National Military Academy of Afghanistan. The Afghan Defense University will be able to support more than 171,000 Afghan National Army personnel.

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Video covering the ceremony

April 6, 2010 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Reconstruction and Development, Security in Afghanistan

Road maintenance project in Kandahar province

Kandahar, Afghanistan

According to a press release issued today by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), a project to conduct routine and emergency maintenance work on three critical roads (Arghanda road, the Panjwai road and the Southern Bypass) will begin in Afghanistan’s southern province of Kandahar. According to the press release, “the maintenance work will significantly increase the durability of these 36km of roads and maximize the socio-economic benefit for the people of Kandahar province.” The press release also stated that: “UNOPS will work closely with the MPW [Ministry of Public Works] in Kandahar, and provide training to staff of the Maintenance Department as well as urgently needed equipment.” All three roads were constructed between 2005 and 2007 with funding from the Japanese government.

April 6, 2010 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Afghanistan's Economy, Reconstruction and Development

Train The Trainers: Balkh Province Gets A New Teachers Training Facility

Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan

Yesterday, Afghan and German officials inaugurated a brand new teachers training facility in Mazar-e-Sharif (Balkh Province, Northern Afghanistan). The building, which sits on 1/5 hectare of land is two stories tall. It has 22 classrooms and nine administrative offices, and the facility will be able to educate 3200 students. The project took one year to complete at a cost of $610,000. Funding was provided by the German government.

April 4, 2010 · admin · One Comment
Posted in: Education, Reconstruction and Development

Afghanistan defeats Malaysia at Cricket

Man of the Match - Hamid Hassan

Today, the Afghan cricket team defeated the team from Malaysia by 1 run in the latest Group B match of the ACC (Asian Cricket Council) Trophy Elite competition. The man of the match award went to Hamid Hassan for his bowling figures of 10-1-44-5. They were pushed hard by the Malaysian team, but the Afghans stuck with it and got the win.

Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat.

Afghanistan: 236 for 9 off 50 overs (K. Sadiq 46, A.Stanikzai 41, R.Ahmadzai 64) / Malaysia: 235 all out off 49.5 (D.Warnasavithana 35, S.Kumar 61, A.Arudin 43, S.Navaratnam 33; H.Hassan 5-44)

The ACC Trophy Elite event is being held in Kuwait. It started on March 31st and will end on April 9th.

April 3, 2010 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Afghan Sports News

ADB invests in energy distribution company in order to increase access to safe and reliable energy in Afghanistan

ADB Logo

The Philippines based Asian Development Bank (ADP) sent out a press release earlier this week that they will invest up to $8 million dollars and buy a 25% stake in Sungas LLC, a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distributor in Afghanistan. As a result of this, Sungas will be able to further expand its distribution through out Afghanistan, and ADP officials are hoping that this will will encourage other companies to invest in Afghanistan’s energy sector.

The vast majority of Afghanistan’s energy needs are met using old forms of energy such as firewood, animal dung, and vegetation brush. The hope is that with the use of more modern forms of energy, such as liquefied petroleum gas, the Afghan economy will develop further, and as a result, improve the lives of its citizens. For example, people will spend less time looking for wood to burn in order to heat their homes and cook their foods. Energy will be much more readily available. The other benefit is that it will also reduce air pollution since there were be a reduction in smoke and fumes as result of burning wood.

April 1, 2010 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Afghanistan's Economy, Environmental Issues, Reconstruction and Development

Afghan Police Force Development

Afghan Police Trainees

There have been major developments in the training and development of Afghanistan’s police force. Today, in a ceremony at its headquarters, Afghanistan’s Minister of Interior, Mohammad Haneef Atmar, who is responsible for the Afghan police, announced the centralization and standardization of the Afghan National Police recruiting system. According to the Afghan and foreign officials who were present at the ceremony, the realignment of the current recruiting structure under one centralized command will produce better trained recruiters. The recruiters will be able to better assess, and according to their qualifications, assign new applicants to the proper vacancies. At the ceremony, Atmar said: “We used to hire officers, send them straight to work and train them later. Now we recruit, train, and then send the trained personnel do perform their duties.”

At the ceremony, it was also announced that a recruiting division has been created that will be dedicated entirely to recruiting women into all branches of the police force. In regards to the creation of this new division, Atmar said: “One thing which is really important is to increase the number of female police officers, we plan to increase the number of women in the Afghan National Police to 5,000 over the next five years.”

Also today, more than 100 United States Marines arrived in Kabul to participate in a 3 month project to support the development of the Afghan National Police. The Marines will be split up into various teams and sent to different locations in Afghanistan, mostly to the east and the south, where they are needed the most, in order to help the trainers on the ground over there. They will help with basic training, as well as work with the Afghan Border Police and the Afghan Civil Order Police.

Earlier in the week, the German government again showed their commitment to the development of Afghanistan’s police force. The German Interior Minister and Germany’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, officially announced the opening of a new police training center in Kunduz province. In this new center, the plan is to train 400 new police officers this year, and starting from 2011, the plan is to train 500 officers every year at this center. Through out Afghanistan, the Germans have committed to training up to 5,000 police officers in Afghanistan. There are currently over 200 German police officers and experts in Afghanistan helping to train and develop Afghanistan’s police force.

Having a properly trained professional police force is a key component in ensuring security for the people of Afghanistan. The Afghan government, particularly, the Minister of Interior has been working with such countries as the United States and Germany for many years now to help train and develop the police force and improve its structure in Afghanistan.

March 31, 2010 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Reconstruction and Development, Security in Afghanistan, Women's Rights

Masjid Restoration at Bagram Airfield

The video story below is about a masjid (mosque) at Bagram Airfield being restored and used by the Muslims working there.

March 30, 2010 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Reconstruction and Development

Poppies replaced with pistachio trees

Qal`eh-ye Now, Badghis

In an effort to eliminate Afghanistan’s dependence on illegal opium farming, Afghan and foreign reconstruction teams from Spain have recently completed a year long project in Badghis province where the illicit crop was replaced with pistachio trees. Qal`eh-ye Now is just one of many villages in Badghis province that has greatly benefited from this project. Badghis province is located in north western Afghanistan. The pistachio trees provide the Afghan farmers with a profitable alternative to opium poppies which are converted into illegal drugs and distributed through out the world. The Spanish reconstruction team also provided the local communities with education and advice on seeding and fertilizing techniques in order to ensure adequate tree growth.

March 29, 2010 · admin · One Comment
Posted in: Afghanistan's Economy, Reconstruction and Development

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