Afghanistan Jobs

Ambassador Finn: "Being a diplomat is endlessly interesting. You live in an ever-changing world of cultures, peoples and policies. From the very start of their careers, diplomats make important decisions that change people's lives. You get to make a difference wherever you go, and you get to shape what America does in the world. In my career, I have always sought the jobs that fascinated me, and the one I have now is the most fascinating of all." ... [Read More]

Afghanistan

The treatment of women under Taliban rule has been particularly harsh, although there was marginal improvement in some areas during the year.  In the areas where it took control, the Taliban initially excluded women from all employment outside the home, apart from the traditional work of women in agriculture; women were forbidden to leave the home except in the company of a male relative.  In urban areas, and particularly after the Taliban took Kabul in 1996, the Taliban forced almost all women to quit their jobs as professionals and clerical workers, including teachers, doctors, nurses, bank tellers, and aid workers.  In a few cases, the Taliban relented and allowed women to work in health care occupations under restricted circumstances.  The prohibition on women working outside of the home has been especially difficult for the large numbers of widows left by 20 years of civil war; there are an estimated 30,000 widows in Kabul alone.  In August the Taliban iss ... [Read More]

White House Fact Sheet: Rebuilding Afghanistan

Empowering Women: The Afghan Government wants to give women the education, skills, and tools they need to obtain jobs, support families, and integrate into the political and public life of Afghanistan. Most U.S. Government programs in Afghanistan assist women, and there are a significant number of female-specific programs, as well. These include refurbishing the Afghan Ministry of Women's Affairs building, providing technical advisors to the ministry, establishing a women's resource center with internet access, computer training, and print and video materials on women's rights. ... [Read More]

The U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council

"Artemis" Project at Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management. Fifteen Afghan women successfully completed advanced entrepreneurship training in January 2005. The participants aim to start businesses that would create jobs for women and to serve as mentors/teachers in Afghanistan. ...

June 2004. The Council’s fifth meeting was held in Washington, DC, in the Treaty Room of the White House on June 15, 2004. Members and invited Afghan and American special guests discussed several key issues, including the Afghan national elections, health care, and jobs. President Bush, President Karzai, Secretary Powell, National Security Advisor Rice, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Thompson met with the group. First Lady Laura Bush honored the Council with a lunch. More than 20 Afghan women attended the meeting and the lunch, including four Afghan Fulbright scholars (a U.S. Department of State educational exchange program), four Afghan women judges on a USAWC training project, and 12 U.S. Department of Agriculture Cochran Fellows in the U.S. for a U.S. Department of Agriculture program for job training in agribusiness. ... [Read More]

Iraq and Afghanistan: Accomplishments and Next Steps

  Creating the conditions for private investment: Given Afghanistan's commercial traditions and recognizing that foreign aid cannot alone provide long-term economic growth, USAID programs focus on currency and banking reform, investment law reform, sound budgeting procedures by the Afghan government and related economic governance initiatives. These mechanisms are necessary to induce the direct private investment that can fuel economic recovery in the long-term. Moreover, our strategy recognizes that peace and stability are contingent on jobs and increases in family income. ... [Read More]

US Department of State – Home Page

more... Countries, Regions Iraq Jobs ... [Read More]

Afghanistan

The Taliban continued to harass domestic and international NGO's, as well as U.N. agencies, and continued to interfere with their operations. Tactics used included detaining NGO members, threatening to impound the vehicles of NGO's that did not work on projects preferred by the Taliban, and threatening to close projects that do not include Taliban supervisors or workers. In August the Taliban arrested 8 foreign aid workers and an estimated 48 Afghan employees of the NGO on charges of proselytizing; they were freed by opposing forces on November 15 (see Sections 1.d., 1.e., and 2.c.). The Taliban detained the director of a local NGO and impounded all of the NGO's equipment in an effort to increase Taliban control of the organization. The Taliban announced in March 1998 that foreign Muslim women, including U.N. workers, would be allowed to perform their jobs only if accompanied by a male relative, a directive that continued to hamper NGO and relief operations during most of the year. [Read More]

II. Quotes By and About Women in Afghanistan

-- Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, Taliban Minister of Justice“We do not have any immediate plans to give jobs to (women) who have been laid off.  But they can find themselves jobs enjoying their free lives.” ... [Read More]

U.S. First Lady Laura Bush's Trip to Afghanistan

Minister Jalal at our meeting commented at our meeting: "The first priority for us now is jobs, jobs." Then the Minister of Health spoke and he said, "The first priority is health." So I would have to say if there were two issues that kind of rose to the forefront of our discussions, it was those two. ...

The First Lady also participated in a tree planting with the members of the Women's Conservation Corps. And to me, every time you see the members of the Women's Conservation Corps, you think -- and I'm smiling because I remember how fascinated Secretary Rice was in one of her first briefings with us to hear about the Women's Conservation Corps -- because this is such a beautiful way to help women. This program is especially important to the many widows who need to have a job, to have a skill, to have an important mission, to work at the reforesting station, and be part of the re-greening, if you will, the replanting in Afghanistan. This project also addresses the tremendous challenge of developing alternative livelihoods and helping the Afghan people develop a different agricultural crop in Afghanistan. You see the jobs, women, environment -- all that nexus, all the way that those things link up by watching the tree plantings and the activities of ... [Read More]