june, 2013 afghan news · cer team went to dushanbe, taji-kistan to play a friendly match against...
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Afghan NewsAfghan NewsAfghan News June, 2013
On Tuesday, 18 June 2013, H.E.
President Hamid Karzai and NATO
officials announced that Afghan se-
curity forces will enter the final
phase of security transition and take
the lead for the fifth and last remain-
ing group of Afghan districts. Until
the time of this announcement, these
areas were under NATO-led respon-
sibility.
During the ceremony at the new Af-
ghan National Defence University in
Qargha, outside Kabul, H.E. Presi-
dent Hamid Karzai and NATO offi-
cials joined together to honor this
historic moment in Afghan history.
With this announcement, Afghan
Inside this issue:
Latest News
security forces will now have primary
responsibility for security administra-
tion throughout all of Afghanistan,
taking over areas previously under
NATO leadership.
In addition to H.E. President Hamid
Karzai, the event was attended by the
NATO Secretary General, Anders
Fogh Rasmussen and the Supreme
Allied Commander Europe, General
Philip Breedlove.
"This is a day for Afghans to be
proud... and I am proud to stand with
you,” Mr Fogh Rasmussen said.
(Continued on page 2)
Latest News Pg.1-4
Final Phase Of Afghan Security Transition Announced
Select Facts About
Afghan Saffron
Afghan Saffron Com-
pany Ranked No. 1 In
The World For Quality
by the International
Taste and Quality In-
stitute
Saffron is cultivated in
23 Afghan provinces
Saffron Exports In-
creased 95% in 2012
Price of Afghan Saf-
fron Increased 14%
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Afghan News, November 1010
leagues H.E. President Emomali
Rahmon of the Republic of Taji-
kistan and H.E. President Gur-
banguly Berdymukhammedov of
Turkmenistan in Lebap, Turk-
menistan to inaugurate the con-
struction of a new railway pro-
ject. The railway will connect the
three nations, starting in Turk-
menistan’s Atamyray, moving
through Afghanistan with a stop
in Mazar-e Sharif, and stopping
finally in Panj in Tajikistan. This
project has opens great potential
business opportunities.
H.E. Foreign Minister Dr. Zal-
mai Rassoul visits Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan
On June 15, H.E. Foreign Minis-
ter Dr. Zalmai Rassoul embarked
on a three day visit to the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordon.
During his trip, H.E. Dr. Rassoul
met separately with the Jordanian
Prime Minister Mr. Abdullah En-
sour and Jordanian Foreign Min-
ister Mr. Nasser Judeh. In the
course of his discussions, Dr.
Rassoul agreed with the respec-
tive parties that the two nations
should expand bilateral coopera-
tion in various fields, including
education, agriculture, and busi-
ness.
On the final day of his trip, Dr.
Rassoul met with to His Majesty
King Abduallah II. H.E. Dr.
Rassoul expressed his gratitude,
on behalf of H.E. President
Hamid Karzai and the Afghan
people, to His Majesty and the
Jordanian people for their con-
tinued support of, and coopera-
tion with, the people of Afghani-
stan, particularly for their medi-
cal and humanitarian assistance
during the last decade.
The announcement comes ahead
of schedule, and sets the stage for
the final year of transition. As
established at the NATO Lisbon
summit in 2010, the Afghan se-
curity transition is set to end by
2014, when Afghan will have full
control of security operations in
their country. As the final stage
of the transition begins this
month, NATO forces will shift
away from their combat role, but
remain in Afghanistan to offer
support, training, assistance.
The decision to enter the final
phase of the security transition
was agreed upon by both NATO
and the government of the Is-
lamic Republic of Afghanistan.
This marks the end of a 3 year
security transition that began in
2011, when Afghan forces began
to assume a leadership role in a
select number of provinces. Now,
with this final phase, security for
every province is set to be Af-
ghan-led.
Afghan, Tajik, Turkmen
Presidents Open New Railway
Construction
H.E. President Hamid Karzai on
June 5th joined his esteemed col-
Afghan News, June 2013
Photo gallery: Bottom Right: Ambassador Dr. Sayed M. Amin Fatimie meets with Hon. Mr. Natsuo Yamaguchi,
head of the New Komeito party. Bottom Center: Ambassador Dr. Fatimie meets with H.E. Mr. Akira Amari, Minis-
ter for Economic Revitalization and Member of the House of Representatives. Bottom Left: Ambassador Dr. Fatimie
meets with H.E. Senior Vice-Minister of the Cabinet Office Yasutoshi Nishimura.
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Afghan News, June 2013
World Bank and IDB Agree on
CASA-1000 Electricity Project
A multinational project entitled
the Central Asia and South Asia
electricity transmission project
(CASA-1000) is set to begin
development in 2014 with the
assistance of the World Bank
and the Islamic Development
Bank (IDB). With a scheduled
completion in 2017, it will make
a 750 kilometer energy network
carrying 1000 MW of electricity
from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan
into Afghanistan and Pakistan to
meet the growing demands of
rapid development.
In related news, 40,000 families
will benefit from a new system
that will transmit 220 kilowatts
of electricity from Chamtala
Sub-station to Arghandi sub-
station in south-eastern Kabul’s
Dasht-e-Barche, Paghman, and
Arghandi areas by 2014. The
system was a collaborative ef-
fort by Breshan Company and
India’s KIS Company, sup-
ported by the Asian Develop-
ment Bank.
Development bettering the lives
of many
Eight kilometres of road will be
built by Afghan Watan Road
Construction Company in Nan-
garhar. The road is part of the
larger 7,729 km Chaparhar-
Jalalabad Ring Road.
Construction has started in Jaw-
zjan province to provide clean
drinking water to residents. The
two projects will benefit some
2,000 families.
Ambassador Fatimie speaks to par-
ticipants of opening workshop of
2013 Cycle of the UNITAR Fellow-
ship for Afghanistan Programme
On June 14, 2013, Ambassador
Dr. Sayed M. Amin Fatimie was
given the honor of speaking via
video conference to participants of
the opening workshop of 2013 Cy-
cle of the United Nations Institute
of Training and Research
(UNITAR) Fellowship for Af-
ghanistan Programme. UNITAR
has been involved in capacity
building of Afghan government
officials and has been running an
annual fellowship program to that
end.
In his remarks, Ambassador Dr.
Fatimie expressed, on behalf of
the people and Government of the
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan,
deepest appreciation to UNITAR
for organizing this excellent op-
portunity. He also wished the par-
ticipants success throughout. Not-
ing the great importance of capac-
ity building, the Ambassador
stated that Afghanistan has a pol-
icy of working with international
partners to strengthen its human
resources. Since 2001, in conjunc-
tion with the cooperation of such
international partners, Ambassa-
dor Dr. Fatimie pointed out that
much progress has been made.
New school buildings open to
more students
In Kabul, on June 4th, 7 schools
buildings were inaugurated on
and the process of reconstruction
was began on five other school
buildings in the city.
Also on June 4th, five high
schools in Paktika province
opened science labs.
Construction has begun on a
new 37-classroom building for
an agricultural vocational high
school in Qala-e-Naw of
Badghis province.
Agricultural sector continues to
advance
A workshop on productivity and
agricultural business for local
farmers was organized at Ba-
gram Air Field. Government of-
ficials from Parwan also joined,
as did a representative of the
United States Department of Ag-
riculture, Regional Command-
East, Afghanistan and personnel
from the U.S. Agency for Inter-
national Development. Subtop-
ics included water management,
pruning techniques, and crop
diseases. American representa-
tives praised local produce, say-
ing, “Afghanistan produces
some of the best apricots, apples
and grapes.”
A rice processing cooperative
was established with an initial
55 members in the Khanabad
district of Kunduz province with
the purpose of helping local
needs and increasing rice sales.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Ir-
rigation and Livestock has
pledged to assist the cooperative
to provide necessary equipment
for rice processing.
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Bamiyan attracting more
tourists
The tourism industry is growing
in Bamiyan. According to local
tourism officials, 1,250 foreign
tourists and more than 2,000 local
tourists visited Bamiyan last year.
The area holds many points of
interest, including the UNESCO
world cultural heritage site of
eight monuments, encompassing
the giant Buddha statues’ re-
mains; the Band-i-Amir national
park; a local fortress and castles;
Buddhist artifacts; and a newly
made ski resort. Further develop-
ment is either underway or
planned, which will add to the
appeal of the area. Such projects
include reconstruction of several
cultural treasures, such as a local
Buddhist shrine, and the building
of hotels and amusement parks.
A great place for Japanese, one
Japanese hotel, Silk Road Bami-
yan, operates in Bamiyan.
Afghan national soccer team
plays in Tajikistan
The Afghan national men’s soc-
cer team went to Dushanbe, Taji-
kistan to play a friendly match
against the Tajik national team.
Afghanistan’s team has been
making tremendous progress in
world rankings, having moved up
to 141st place in the FIFA rank-
ings. Afghanistan has recently
impressed observers with wins
against Sri Lanka and Mongolia.
During both games, the Afghan
team gave up no points. In an
extremely close match, in which
both teams exchanged goals
throughout, Tajikistan came out
on top 3-2.
National Basketball team per-
forms well in India
Afghanistan’s national men’s
basketball team participated in
the South Asia Championships in
India early this month. Despite
being unable to defeat India in
their exciting final game, the Af-
ghan team performed very
strongly. In the previous two
games, the Afghan team defeated
Nepal and the Maldives. Against
the Maldives, they won with a
score of 99-52. The Afghan team
went on to win their second
match of these SABA Qualifiers
against Nepal by a whopping 78-
20.
On June 9th, an inauguration
ceremony was held in Mazar-i-
Sharif, Balkh for a reconstructed
terminal at the Maulana Jalalud-
din Balkhi International Airport.
H.E. Mr. Daud Ali Najafi, Minis-
ter of Transport and Aviation;
H.E. German Foreign Minister
Guido Westerwelle; Hon. Gover-
nor Atta Mohammad Noor; and a
number of parliamentarians. The
reconstruction was supported by
Germany and the United Arab
Emirates. The terminal can ser-
vice 1,000 passengers.
Industrial products,
handicrafts
exhibited in Gardez, Paktia
A two-day exhibition of local
industrial products and handi-
crafts was held in Gardez, Paktia
early this month. The products
were made by women, local in-
dustries, civil society groups, and
government bodies. (photo cour-
tesy of Pajhwok)
Khost observes Peace Week
International Peace Week was
marked nationwide between June
8 and 13th. In Khost province,
seminars and other events were
opened to residents. At one
event, Hon. Governor Abdul Ja-
bar Naeemi spoke, linking peace
and prosperity.
Embassy of Afghanistan in Tokyo 2-2-1 Azabudai,
Minato ward, Tokyo, 106-0041
Tel: 03-5574-7611
Fax: 03-5574-0195
Website
www.afghanembassyjp.org
Contact Us
If you have any comments, questions or
suggestions regarding this newsletter or
the Embassy, please send an e-mail to
the embassy’s Public Affairs Officer,
Jason Pratt:
Afghan News, June 2013