Afghanistan Today

We note that there were reports of technical problems at some polling stations. We are confident that the Joint Electoral Management Body, which is charged with overseeing the elections, will review and address those complaints, as it has pledged to do. In its statement today, the Body promised that all complaints would be thoroughly investigated. ...

Today history was made in Afghanistan.  We congratulate the Afghan people on exercising their political right to choose their country's next leader.  They have much to be proud of in bringing their country to this point, just three years after the end of a quarter century of war and repression. ... [Read More]

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

MS. PONTICELLI: We love all of you and it's really just a great pleasure for me to meet with you this afternoon. I really do feel like I'm surrounded by so many friends, and colleagues and, more importantly, by those of us who have worked in the trenches together. We have put so much of our effort and our time and our commitment to the cause of the women of Afghanistan. And that, of course, is what I'm going to talk about today because I just had the incredible thrill of being in Afghanistan for two weeks. I'm just back, I guess, a little over a week. It's hard to believe. I feel like I've left a big part of my heart there, as I always feel when I come back from Afghanistan. ... [Read More]

Political and Security Situation of Women In Afghanistan

Afghanistan today is a country devastated by years of war, poverty, and oppressive rule. Before the Taliban came to power, it was a traditional country where women often took a subordinate role. Even so, prior to the Soviet invasion in 1979, women made up:74% of all teachers; 40% of all doctors; and 30% of all government workers. ... [Read More]

Deputy Secretary Armitage Heralds Reestablishment of Fulbright Program in Afghanistan

Today the Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, in collaboration with the Bureau of South Asian Affairs’ Office of Public Diplomacy and the U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs Section in Kabul, has constructed a one-year, non-degree Fulbright educational program in the United States for young Afghan men and women graduating as university seniors, as well as for academically qualified women who were deprived of formal study during the Taliban era. ...

Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage today announced the reestablishment of the Fulbright Program with Afghanistan after nearly 24 years dormant. The announcement came in a ceremony hosted by Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Patricia S. Harrison at the U.S. Department of State. His Excellency Ishaq Shahryar, Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States, participated in the ceremony, and other diplomats from the region attended. The reactivation of the prestigious program signifies the U.S. commitment to rebuilding the once vibrant bilateral relations in education and culture, and acknowledges Afghanistan’s resurgence as a full partner in significant academic exchange. ... [Read More]

Afghanistan

U.S. Department of State [Read More]

Mrs. Bush Highlights Women's Achievements in Afghanistan

It is said that big things have small beginnings. Two years ago, the teacher training institute was just a dream. In July of 2003, the US-Afghan Women's Council visited one of my husband's top advisers, Karen Hughes, in her home town of Austin, Texas. As Karen talked with them about the most pressing needs facing the women of Afghanistan, the consensus from her Afghan counterparts, including the Women's Minister, Habbiba Sarabi, was a dire need for teachers in the remote and rural communities. Karen was told that women hoping to attend the University did not have a place to stay. The dormitories had historically only been for men. Karen told me of these needs, and as a teacher and librarian myself, I hoped that the United States Government could help build this institute. Many of you here today have all played a critical role in making this dream a reality. And from today's small beginnings we expect the Institute will yield great things. ... [Read More]

Afghanistan

Please click on this link to read important information you should see before you travel abroad This information is current as of today, document.write(Date()+".") Afghanistan ... [Read More]

Afghanistan

U.S. Department of State [Read More]

Afghanistan (04/05)

In 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder of what is known today as Afghanistan, established his rule. A Pashtun, Durrani was elected king by a tribal council after the assassination of the Persian ruler Nadir Shah at Khabushan in the same year. Throughout his reign, Durrani consolidated chieftainships, petty principalities, and fragmented provinces into one country. His rule extended from Mashad in the west to Kashmir and Delhi in the east, and from the Amu Darya (Oxus) River in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south. ... [Read More]