Kajaki Dam Renovation
Kajaki Dam
According to local media, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Energy and Water has announced that the Kajaki Dam, located in the Kajaki district of the southern province of Helmand, will soon be renovated in order to store more water and provide more energy. The renovation project will also provide 3000 job opportunities in Afghanistan. The Kajaki Dam is one of the two major hydroelectric dams in Helmand province. It is situated on the Helmand River and was built by an American firm in the early 1950s.
March 28, 2010
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Posted in: Job Creation, Reconstruction and Development
Project helps to improve environmental conditions in Paktika
Paktika Province
Paktika, which is located in south-eastern Afghanistan, is a province that has unfortunately been heavily deforested through out the years, and as a result, it’s people have suffered from devastating floods in recent years. The province was once a very fertile and arable land. Recently, in an effort to restore the environmental conditions in the province, tree saplings (young trees) were distributed by the government to land owners though out the province. The farmers were also taught how to properly plant and nurture the trees, and how to properly draw the seeds from its future fruits in order to plant and grow additional trees. This project improves the soil by preventing erosion, and gives the locals a chance to produce their own food.
March 28, 2010
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Posted in: Environmental Issues, Reconstruction and Development
Reforms increase state revenues in Afghanistan
Afghanistan's Minister of Finance, Omar Zakhilwal
As President Hamid Karzai wraps up his trip to China after securing deals to further economic ties between China and Afghanistan, the Finance Ministry of Afghanistan, headed by Omar Zakhilwal, announced today that the state’s budget revenues rose by 45% last year. Domestic revenues grew from $400 million in 2008-2009 to about $600 million in the fiscal year that ended this week.Â
A Ministry of Finance spokesman told the media that the rise was a result of reforms they had implemented, such as improvements in revenue collection, a decrease in fines to further encourage compliance with tax laws, and implementing a tax on the income of state employees and on property leases. The Ministry spokesman also said that a serious of anti-corruption measures, especially in the customs area, also contributed to the rise in revenues.
This is very good news for Afghanistan, because if the rise in revenues continues to grow, it will be less dependent on foreign aid to provide services such as the building and maintenance of schools, hospitals, roads, and funding for the country’s armed forces and police services.
March 25, 2010
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Posted in: Afghanistan's Economy, Reconstruction and Development
New Afghan lead project helping to provide power for local Afghans in Farah Province
March 24, 2010
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Posted in: Reconstruction and Development
Afghanistan shows further commitment to major international environmental issues – joins the fight against harmful chemicals
UNEP Logo
In an effort to show Afghanistan’s commitment to major international environmental issues, senior Afghan officials met with officials from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)Â in Thailand today in order to sign an agreement to work together in the fight against the illegal trade in banned chemicals. Scientists say these chemicals harm the ozone layer and contribute to climate change.
In return for Afghanistan’s commitment, the agreement will provide Afghan customs officers with the necessary training they need to identify these chemicals and comply with world’s most successful environmental accord, the 1989 Montreal Protocol.Â
The Protocol, to which Afghanistan signed on six years ago, calls for phasing out the use of the ozone-damaging chemicals chlorofluorocarbons and hydro-chlorofluorocarbons.
March 23, 2010
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Posted in: Environmental Issues
First Afghan magazine to add Braille
Braille
In April, the Development and Ability Organization (DAO), formerly known as the Afghan Disabled Union, is planning on including Braille in the next edition of their magazine, called “Gadoon”. Braille is a form of writing and printing intended for blind people. Varied arrangements of raised dots represent letters and numbers, and they are identified by touch.
Gadoon magazine, which is distributed throughout Afghanistan, profiles the success of people with disabilities in order to encourage other Afghans that a disability does not need to stop them from being successful in in their lives. Gadoon magazine was started in 2006 by DAO and is published bimonthly. The head of DAO is Haji Omara Khan Muneeb. For more info about this organization, check out their website at: www.daoafghanistan.org.
March 22, 2010
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Posted in: Health News, Human Rights
New maternity hospital to be built in Gardez
Gardez, Afghanistan
In an effort to reduce mother and child mortality rates, a new maternity hospital is being built in Gardez, which is in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Paktia. A maternity hospital specializes in providing care for women during pregnancy and childbirth as well as care for newborn infants. The US based Bayat Foundation, which is funding the project, says on their Facebook account that the work is scheduled to be completed this summer. The new hospital will be called “Gawhar Taj Bayat”, and once completed, it will have space for 20 beds, it will include a pharmacy, a laboratory, and it will have modern equipment installed.
March 21, 2010
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Posted in: Health News, Reconstruction and Development, Women's Rights
Happy New Year! (Nowroz Mubarak)
The staff of goodafghannews.com would like to wish all of our readers a Happy New Year!
Dear non-Afghan readers,
Today, marks the beginning of the new year, 1389, and the first day of spring in Afghanistan, Iran, and Tajikstan. In Farsi, it is referred to as “Nowroz”. The holiday is also celebrated in some Central Asian countries like Uzbekistan, and even in the Middle East, such as Iraq.Â
In Afghanistan, Afghans celebrate the new year by having picnics, visiting friends and families, and making traditional Afghan dishes such as fruit salad made from 7 different dried fruits, served in their own syrup. Many Afghans also prepare fish today and take it as a gift to their future in-laws. You will also find many people visiting the Shrine of Hazrat Ali in Mazar-i-Sharif, and people often celebrate by watching a traditional Buzkashi match.
Dear Afghan readers,
Inshallah (God willing), this year will be another year where we continue to progress and rebuild our nation and finally come closer to becoming a fully self sufficient, thriving modern Islamic nation.
March 21, 2010
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Posted in: Uncategorized
New Hospital and School Opened in Herat Province
The New Herat Hospital
Yesterday, in the Gazar Gah district of Afghanistan’s western province of Herat, Afghan and foreign officials opened the doors to a new hospital. A press release sent to goodafghannews.com stated that the hospital is “composed of a large main entry area which also serves as a waiting room, a wing for women and children, and another for men, which also includes general services”. There are plans to build two other hospitals in the province.
Also in Herat, a girls’ school was opened in the Mirman Hayati district. The school is a two-story building and it contains 20 classrooms. It is already furnished and has the equipment to educate 2,000 girls. A ceremony was held to mark the opening of the school, and in the end, backpacks, notebooks, pens and stationery were distributed to the students.
Both projects put many Afghans to work as they used local contractors to do the building. The funding for both projects (hospital and school) came from the Italian government.
March 18, 2010
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Posted in: Education, Health News, Job Creation, Reconstruction and Development, Women's Rights
Report: Afghanistan Plans Bill Trading and Bond Sales
Da Afghanistan Bank
Aimal Hashoor, a spokesman for Da Afghanistan Bank, the central bank in Afghanistan that regulates the banking and money handling operations, told Bloomberg news yesterday that “Afghanistan plans to allow trading in central bank bills and start selling longer-term government bonds in the coming year to diversify funding sources after receiving more than $30 billion of international assistance.” In an effort to reduce Afghanistan’s dependence on foreign aid, Hashoor told Bloomberg news that the central bank will develop its domestic debt market. Hashoor also told Bloomberg that the “central bank plans to start a national stock exchange in Kabul by 2013 to provide investment opportunities for domestic and overseas investors”. Click here to read the report from Bloomberg.
March 16, 2010
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Posted in: Afghanistan's Economy, Reconstruction and Development
Western Afghanistan: High School and Women’s Center Get New Computers
Governor Rahul Amin cuts a ribbon strung across the new computer lab at the Farah Women’s Empowerment Center during a dedication ceremony on March 10, 2010, Farah, Afghanistan
Recently, a local high school in the Ghoryan district of Herat province in western Afghanistan was equipped with 20 personal computers, a printer and scanner and local area network access. Funding was provided by the Italian government.
Also, in Farah City, Farah Provincial Governor Rahul Amin officially dedicated a new Women’s Empowerment Center with a new computer lab. The center offers math, English, basic health science, and computer technology classes to young girls and women of all ages. The new computer lab is equipped with nine computers, a projector, and a projection screen.
In the ceremony commemorating the new facility and honoring the women of Farah, Governor Amin said: “I wish we could have days like this over and over again…All the women of this city and of this province do so much for our society we should honor them as often as we can. These women perform so many roles and are so talented that it’s hard to describe all the attributes of society they enhance. This building stands as a testament to all their hard work.”
Funding for this project was provided by the US government.
March 16, 2010
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Posted in: Reconstruction and Development, Women's Rights
Afghan Children Will Be Vaccinated Against Polio
Child being vaccinated
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Health, working with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is currently conducting a major campaign to vaccinate an estimated 7.7 million children under the age of 5 against polio. Polio which is short for poliomyelitis, is a highly infectious disease that affects the nervous system and can lead to partial or full paralysis. While the disease has been virtually eliminated in most of the world, it is still prevalent in Afghanistan and 3 other countries. Afghanistan’s President, Hamid Karzai, officially kicked off the event on Sunday by administering two drops of the polio vaccine into the mouth of a child. A similar polio vaccination campaign was done last month and it targeted an estimated 2.8 million children. Hopefully, this disease will be permanently eliminated from Afghanistan as well.
March 16, 2010
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Posted in: Health News
