Kabul, Afghanistan June 19, 2008: Roshan, the leading telecommunications operator in Afghanistan, today announced that it has reached 2 million active subscribers, reaffirming its position as the mobile operator market leader in Afghanistan. Roshan will celebrate this significant milestone today at a special event in Kabul where the firm will award the winners of its Lucky Draw. The event will also feature Afghan singer and Roshan’s new brand ambassador Farhad Darya, who will sing live at the event to mark the occasion.

Roshan is the first and only company in Afghanistan to reach the 2 million active subscriber mark and complies with international standards for counting customers, active and paying. The firm, which began operations in July 2003, as the second GSM provider in Afghanistan, before any basic telecommunications infrastructure was established, is now present in over 224 cities and towns and in 33 of 34 provinces, covering almost 56% of the population. Roshan has invested more than $338 million USD to offer Afghanistan the highest network quality and is committed to the reconstruction and rebuilding of Afghanistan through its extensive corporate social responsibility programs.

Complete at the source

Development Secretary Douglas Alexander was today (Sun June 29th) visiting Afghanistan, to see for himself development projects backed by Britain to support Afghanistan’s future prosperity.

At a meeting with business leaders and Government officials, Mr Alexander announced a partnership for the Afghanistan Investment Climate Facility (AICF) that will aim to raise $100 million to fast track changes in business rules and regulations to make it attractive for businesses to invest in Afghanistan.

Britain, through the Department for International Development, is providing £30 million ($60 million) to launch the initiative.

It brings together business leaders of Afghan corporations on a Management Board and empowers them to take the lead in improving the climate for investing and doing business in Afghanistan.

The United Kingdom will be working with companies such as Roshan, (Afghanistan’s largest mobile phone company), independent broadcaster Tolo TV, the Aga Khan Development Network, plus the United States and Afghan Governments and future partners, to implement plans to reform and improve the way people do business in the country.

Complete at the source - Telegraph

When Prince Charles asked Rory Stewart to found a charity to rebuild Afghanistan, he was fully aware of the scale of the task, having earlier made an extraordinary trek across the country. Now he’s back home and eager to reacquaint himself with Britain.

Two and a half years on, with the help of funding from the likes of the Aga Khan and the School of Traditional Arts in London, the buildings are still standing and under regeneration, while 5,000 tons of rubbish has been cleared from the streets.

Complete interview at the source

Speeches and Official Statements
Audio translation of speech given by His Highness the Aga Khan

The audio speeches are available at the source, click here.

AKDN Press Release

Afghan TV Picture - Related Pictures - Group Photos

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A look at Afghan conference pledges

TodaysZaman.com – xinhuanet – GulfTimes - USA Today - Atlanta Journal

JOINT PRESS RELEASE BY THE FRENCH MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AND EUROPEAN AFFAIRS AND THE AGA KHAN DEVELOPMENT NETWORK

The French Government, the Afghan Government and the Aga Khan Sign a Letter of Intent on Medical Projects in Afghanistan

AKDN - Paris, 12 June 2008 - During an international conference in support of Afghanistan, held in Paris on June 12, the French government and His Highness the Aga Khan reiterated their support for the health policy pursued by the Afghan government.

The French Development Agency (AFD), an institution under the patronage of the French government ministries, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan decided to pursue their partnership for the benefit of the French Medical Institute for Children (FMIC) in Kabul.

A Letter of Intent was signed, in the presence of the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, by His Highness the Aga Khan, the French Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister, Rangin Dadfar Spanta and the Director General of the French Development Agency, Jean-Michel Severino.

The Letter of Intent stipulates that the French Development Agency will donate a grant of two million euros for the training of medical and paramedical personnel at the French Medical Institute for Children.

The AKDN and AFD also envisage a loan of approximately nine million euros for the extension of the Institute.

Moreover, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the AFD and AKDN announced that they will study the possibility of creating a support programme for the National School of Nursing, the Ghazanfar Institute of Health Sciences and other institutions active in the field of medical and nursing services.

Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan (in French).
Photographs
http://akdn.org/news/2008june12.html
Reliefweb

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(L-R) French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, US First Lady Laura Bush, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and General Secretary of United Nations Ban Ki-moon, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier pose for the International Conference in support of Afghanistan, in Paris, France, 12 June 2008. The participants of the international donors conference try to raise billions of dollars in aid for Afghanistan. Sarkozy inaugurated the one-day conference attended by delegates from more than 65 countries and 15 international organizations. EPA/LUCAS DOLEGA

Nicolas Sarkozy, Hamid Karzai, Ban Ki-moon, Bernard Kouchner, Condoleeza Rice, Laura Bush, Aga Khan
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, third from right, applauds towards to, from left, French Foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, U.S. first lady Laura Bush, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and Ismaili Muslim leader, the Aga Khan, at right, look on at the opening of the Afghanistan donors conference, in Paris, (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

(L-R first row) French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, US First Lady Laura Bush, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and General Secretary of United Nations Ban Ki-moon, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier pose for the International Conference in support of Afghanistan, in Paris. EPA/LUCAS DOLEGA

Afghan TV Picture

Translated audio speech by His Highness the Aga Khan

AKDN Press Release

Earlier related post

A look at Afghan conference pledges

TodaysZaman.com – xinhuanet – GulfTimes - USA Today -  Atlanta Journal

June 12 Reuters - Over 65 countries and more than a dozen international organisations met at a conference in Paris on Thursday to pledge funds for Afghanistan and review their development strategy for the violence-plagued state.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy inaugurated the one-day conference, among the delegates in attendance: Ismaili Muslims leader, the Aga Khan, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, US First Lady Laura Bush, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. 

Clicking on above pictures will take you to the original source.  All captions and details are available at the source.

More related pictures. Afghan TV Picture

Translated audio speech by His Highness the Aga Khan

AKDN Press Release

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A look at Afghan conference pledges

TodaysZaman.com – xinhuanet – GulfTimes - USA Today -  Atlanta Journal

Selections for the Golden Jubilee Games in Afghanistan began in the Autumn of 2007. With few indoor athletic facilities in the country, regional and national trials had to be scheduled before the onset of the harsh winter.

The qualification process was inaugurated with an impressive ceremony held at Umomi Jamatkhana in Kabul. Athletes stood at attention as both the Afghan and Ismaili flags were carried into the Jamatkhana courtyard. They then marched in formation in front of the gathered dignitaries and members of the community.

Following the inauguration, a series of athletic contests were scheduled across the country. Regional sports festivals took place in the provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan, Bamyan and Kabul.

Complete at the source: theismaili.org

PARIS - Canada is working quietly with Afghanistan and Pakistan to find ways to improve both security and traffic flow at a border that has been identified as a vital artery feeding the Taliban-led insurgency, a top Canadian official said here Wednesday.

Arif Lalani, Canada’s ambassador to Afghanistan, made the comment while defending Canada and its allies against criticism from several analysts who were questioning whether the Taliban-led insurgency can be defeated.

He said Canada first brought Afghan and Pakistani officials together in Dubai six months ago, with follow-up meetings being held over the past month in each country.

Complete at the source

Reuters - AP - Afghanistan will ask international donors at a Paris conference on Thursday for $50 billion over five years to bolster its economy.

Following is a breakdown of the nearly $25 billion donated for Afghanistan’s reconstruction since 2001, according to the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, an alliance of aid agencies. Its numbers are based on Afghan Ministry of Finance data provided in February 2008, in millions of U.S. dollars:

DONOR AID DISBURSED / AID COMMITTED BUT NOT DISBURSED

• United States 5022.9 5377
• Japan 1393.52 16.9
• United Kingdom 16.3 188.87
• European Commission 1074.1 646.68
• World Bank 852.72 750.72
• Germany 767.84 458.2
• Canada 730.71 48.12
• Asian Development Bank 547.8 1009.7
• Italy 424.41 0
• Netherlands 407.1 85.5
• Norway 277 122.3
• Sweden 217.26 41.15
• Iran 213.87 13.89
• ECHO* 207.68 2.23
• India 204.26 650.85
• Australia 194.81 0
• U.N. agencies** 171 0
• Denmark 152.79 59.38
• Russia 139 0
• Aga Khan Foundation 119.3 0
• France 79.93 29.47
• Saudi Arabia 76.9 30
• Finland 64.06 29.92
• Switzerland 51.55 43.96
• China 41 20.35
• Spain 25.6 37.15
• Turkey 20.8 22.82

* ECHO - European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Office ** U.N. agencies - includes allocations of earmarked funds

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05.06.2008

Victoria Naumova

DUSHANBE, June 5, Asia-Plus — FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance has sponsored rehabilitation of a tremor-affected kindergarten in Khatlon’s Qimsangir district.

Press release issued by the FOCUS Dushanbe Office said that kindergarten Firouza in the Qumsangir district was seriously damaged by devastating earthquake that hit Qumsangir on July 29, 2006 and its was in very poor state during a year because main works were focusing on rehabilitation of residential buildings.

After detailed assessment conducted by the government of Tajikistan, the Qumsangir local authorities and FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance decided to rehabilitate the kindergarten and the rehabilitation work started last August. The rehabilitated kindergarten, which is now able to accommodate 120 children, was officially handed over to the Qumsangir authorities last month.

Focus Humanitarian Assistance is an international group of agencies established in Europe, North America and South Asia to complement the provision of emergency relief, principally in the developing world. It helps people in need reduce their dependence on humanitarian aid and facilitates their transition to sustainable self-reliant, long-term development. Focus Humanitarian Assistance is affiliated with the Aga Khan Development Network, a group of institutions working to improve opportunities and living conditions, for people of all faiths and origins, in specific regions of the developing world. Underlying the establishment of FOCUS by the Ismaili Muslim community is a history of successful initiatives to assist people struck by natural and man-made disasters in South and Central Asia, and Africa.

FOCUS has worked in Tajikistan since 1997. Over the past period, FOCUS has helped the country cope with more than 40 disasters and provided assistance to the population for an amount of more than $500,000.

ASIA-Plus Daily Blitz

05.06.2008

Turko Dikayev

KULOB, June 5, Asia-Plus — An official opening of the project for construction of water pipeline was held in the village of Navbuloq, Khatlon’s Shuroobod district on June 4.

An official with the Chagam jamoat said that the project had been implemented due to financial support of the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), which had allocated 65,000 somonis for construction of the pipeline. Contribution of local residents has been 25,000 somonis, the source said.

According to him, the project included installation of a 5-kilometer pipeline, water tank with capacity of 30 cubic meters and four water columns in the village.

He further added that the AKF has also supported construction of water supply system in the village of Chagani Poyon and installation of the water tank with capacity 30 cubic meters in the village of Tohirjon.

ASIA-Plus Daily Blitz

Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan

http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?SourceId=
240589&Lang=1&PARLSES=392&JNT=0&COM=13694

His Excellency Arif Lalani, Ambassador of Canada to Afghanistan, has been called to the Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan - May 28th meeting.

Watch LIVE

June 21 2008 at Bastide St Mathieu,
St Mathieu, Grasse.

Riviera Opera will launch June 21 2008 at Bastide St Mathieu, St Mathieu, Grasse as part of midsummer’s day Fête de la Musique in aid of the Aga Khan Foundation, helping the people of Afghanistan and Central Asia to build economic viability.

Charles Court Opera will perform their Opera Show of great arias and choruses from Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, Wagner, Donizetti on the new terraces of Bastide St Mathieu. Gabby Faja who is the Producer for the Charles Court Opera is presenting the production. The performance will be accompanied by a fine dinner in relaxed and beautiful surroundings.

Source

This article talks about the plight of women and children in Afghanistan.  It discusses the importance of midwifery, education, health and sanitation, and the role various different aid groups (including Aga Khan Foundation) are playing to make a chance.

Reuters - By Tan Ee Lyn

FAIZABAD, Afghanistan, April 30 (Reuters) - A woman haemorrhages to death as she lies screaming in agony in a spartan hut in a remote region of Afghanistan. There is no doctor or midwife to help and the hospital is several days journey away.

Women die this way every day in Afghanistan, a country with one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates.

About 1,600 Afghan women die in childbirth out of every 100,000 live births. In some of the most remote areas, the death rate is as high as 6,500. In comparison, the average rate in developing countries is 450 and in developed countries it is 9.

Virtually everyone in Afghanistan can recount a story about a relative dying in childbirth, often from minor complications that can be easily treated with proper medical care.

Sharifa’s sister, a mother of six, bled to death after giving birth at home.

“There is no clinic, no cars, no proper roads. It is a remote village, we could not take her to hospital. She remained at home for one day and one night, then she died,” recalled Sharifa, who identified herself only by her first name.

Afghanistan’s government aims to reduce maternal mortality by 20 percent by 2020 but there are many obstacles to overcome such as a reluctance by women to be examined by male doctors and a lack of female doctors, nurses and midwives.

Complete at Reuters

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Assessing food insecurity in Shikai, Badakhshan, Afghanistan

In February 2008, FOCUS conducted an assessment to determine the level of food insecurity and affects of the severe winter conditions in communities in the Shikai district of Badakhshan.

Due to the cold weather and frequent onset of avalanches, the FOCUS team were unable to access all the border villages but were able to meet village representatives in nearby locations. A detailed assessment by FOCUS resulted in a collaborative distribution effort of food and medicines by the Badakhshan Governor’s Office, the United Nations World Food Programme and other regional aid agencies.

http://www.akdn.org/news/focus/spring2008.htm

Focus Humanitarian Assistance is an international group of agencies established in Europe, North America and South Asia to complement the provision of emergency relief, principally in the developing world. It helps people in need reduce their dependence on humanitarian aid and facilitates their transition to sustainable self-reliant, long-term development. Focus Humanitarian Assistance is affiliated with the Aga Khan Development Network, a group of institutions working to improve opportunities and living conditions, for people of all faiths and origins, in specific regions of the developing world. Underlying the establishment of FOCUS by the Ismaili Muslim community is a history of successful initiatives to assist people struck by natural and man-made disasters in South and Central Asia, and Africa.

Best Place to Escape the Office - Afghanistan - Time.com

Local guides, trained by the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), offer expert introductions to the region’s nomadic cultures.

The AKF has also established a string of simple guesthouses and spacious yurts for trekkers along the length of the journey, meaning that you can enjoy many of the comforts of home, without the proximity of work.

There was a time when coming to a country like war-torn Afghanistan would constitute “getting away from it all.” But these days, your BlackBerry will work in Kabul, so a real escape requires extreme measures. That would be a trip to the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan’s remote northeast — a refuge so remote that not even the Taliban bothered to visit it in their countrywide rampage. In fact, this narrow finger of land that reaches past Pakistan and Tajikistan to poke China is the safest place in Afghanistan, populated only by Kyrgyz and Wakhi nomads.

Getting to the valley trailhead involves a propeller-plane flight from Kabul and 21/2 days’ drive along a rutted track. There’s another day of pony-trekking over a mountain pass before you reach the start of a broad valley whose end lies far beyond the horizon. Few places are harder to get to, but no place is more worth it. Marco Polo spent nearly a year here, recovering from the strains of his epic travels, and the serrated, snowcapped peaks fringing the valley are home to the great sheep that bear his name — their spiral horns littering the passes and adorning nomad tents. (The grass was so rich, wrote Polo, that it took only 10 days to fatten an entire flock of sheep for the winter.) In 1891, at the peak of the Great Game, British explorer and spy Francis Younghusband dallied here as well, picnicking on caviar and champagne with a Russian general among the ancient beehive-shaped ruins of Bozai Gombaz, an old Kyrgyz settlement about three days’ walk from the start.

Along the length of the valley, which takes four days to traverse, runs the source of the Amu Darya River, once known as the Oxus. This makes the Wakhan broad and flat and a pleasure to walk, but ponies offer a change of pace. Local guides, trained by the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), offer expert introductions to the region’s nomadic cultures. Food is simple — rice, lamb, yogurt — but you can easily augment it with a yak-load of your own goodies to last the two-week round trip. The AKF has also established a string of simple guesthouses and spacious yurts for trekkers along the length of the journey, meaning that you can enjoy many of the comforts of home, without the proximity of work. The office can still call you on a satellite phone, of course. But only until the batteries run out.

Time.com

Click here for CTV Video at the source

Quebec’s Ismaili Muslim Community is celebrating a milestone. It’s the 15th anniversary of the beginning of their journey from Afghanistan to Quebec.

Debra Arbec has the story of one family’s voyage.

Montreal’s CTV News

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Related: Gala strengthens partnership between Ismaili Community and Quebec - theismaili.org

CARE calls for quality education for all – girls included

Great achievements have been made in the education sector in Afghanistan. However, more must be done to ensure that girls are not excluded from education. Currently, only 35 percent of enrolled children are girls. And, despite overall increase in numbers of enrolled children, the percentage of female students is not increasing.

This week, the world celebrates Global Action Week as part of the Global Campaign for Education. Under the theme ‘Quality Education for All: End Exclusion Now!’ Afghan students will participate in a world record attempt together with millions of other school children around the world: Everybody taking the same lesson at the same time about the importance of quality education and the negative impacts exclusion from education has on people’s lives. Children with disabilities, sensory impaired, ethnic minorities, children living in remote areas and even girls are missing out throughout the world.

Free and quality education for all is a principle of the Afghan constitution. However, lack of female teachers, cultural aspects, and widely spread practices of boys-only schools are some of the factors that are currently keeping girls out of school.

In Afghanistan only 28% of all teachers are female, with the majority of them located primarily in urban areas. This inhibits girls’ participation in education, as parents are reluctant to have teenage girls being taught by a male teacher. Likewise, parents are hesitant to send their girls to schools if they are far from their homes.

‘However, the challenges to girls’ education can be overcome while respecting cultural principles’ says Jamie Terzi, Assistant Country Director of CARE. CARE, in partnership with International Rescue Committee (IRC), Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS), is currently providing community based education to 45,000 children in remote areas in 17 provinces where there are no Ministry of Education formal schools. Two-thirds are girls. ‘One way to increase female enrolment is to discuss the importance of education under Islam with girls’ parents’ she says.

Source

(more…)

The Buddhas of Bamyan, two momumental statues of standing Buddhas built during the sixth century carved into a side of cliff in the Bamyan valley of central Afghanistan, were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.

Seven years after the Taliban destroyed the Bamiyan Buddha statues, an UNESCO mission working together with Afghan officials has finished gathering the remaining fragments of the monumental statues and is considering beginning the reconstruction works.

The Buddhas of Bamyan, which represented the classic blended style of Indo-Greek art, were two momumental statues of standing Buddhas built during the sixth century carved into a side of cliff in the Bamyan valley of central Afghanistan.

The destroyed statues were the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world as well as the most famous cultural landmarks of the region. The site was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the surrounding cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamyan Valley.

At the moment, officials are doing a careful study and taking measurements, the first step of anastylosis, an archaeological reconstruction technique used to restore runied monuments using original architectural elements where possible.

“They are now collecting the fragments of the Buddha and they are putting in a safe storage” Nasir Mudabir, director of historic monuments in Bamyan, tells the Basque media group EiTB.

Amir Foladi, a representative of Agha Khan Foundation, says rebuilding one statue is very important and remarks that experts say there is a possibility as fifteen to twenty percent of the surface has remained”.

However, according to Foladi, one of the two monumental Buddhas “one should be left as it is just to remember that during thirty years what happened to Afghanistan, specially to the cultural and historical site.”

Source

KABUL (PAN): A renowned American surgeon arrived in Kabul today to perform open-heart operations at the French Medical Institute for Children (FMIC). On a three-day visit to this capital city, Dr Jan M. Quaegebeur is the first US pediatric cardiac specialist to work in Afghanistan.

He would assess the possibility for further American specialists to work at the French Medical Institute for Children, one of the most advanced hospitals in the war-torn country, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) said on Friday.

Currently professor of surgery at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons and Director of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at the New York Presbyterian Hospitals Congenital Heart Centre, Dr Quaegebeur is well known in the medical world for having developed the arterial switch - a procedure performed on newborn babies to enable them to undergo open-heart surgery.

He would operate on children with severe heart defects, the AKDN said in a press statement. Fifteen-year-old Abdul and four-year-old Said have congenital heart defects which can only be cured by advanced surgical techniques that until recently were not available in Afghanistan.

Both children suffer from tetralogy of Fallot, a deformation of the heart which leads to a shortage of oxygen in the blood. In infants and babies the ailment gives their skin a bluish colour. They are often called blue babies.

Dr Quaegebeur is president of Surgeons of Hope, the US sister organisation of La Chane de lEspoir, a French medical charity. La Chaine de lEspoir built the French Medical Institute for Children, an 85-bed hospital which opened in Kabul in 2005. It is managed by the Aga Khan Development Network, while La Chaine de lEspoir is in charge of medical coordination.

Source

Aunohita Mojumdar is a freelance journalist who has reported from the South Asian region for 16 years. He blogs on the beauty and nature of Wakhan Corridor which is a narrow strip of land in eastern Afghanistan bordered by Tajikistan in the north and Pakistan.  Some excerpts below, visit the site for complete reading.

Down in the village wheat is being harvested. Unlike most other parts of Afghanistan where women cover their faces in public, men and women work side by side in the fields, turning their curious gaze on the outsiders. The Shia Ismaeli’s gentle observance of religion belies the rigidities of much of Afghanistan, where a strong conservative culture keeps outsiders at bay. Ethnically, too, the inhabitants of the Wakhan Corridor are very different, comprising the Wakhi in lower Wakhan and the Kyrghyz in the higher areas with their distinct languages. Overtures meet with first a cautious and then increasingly friendly response.

In the village where we stay the guesthouse is the first of its kind for travellers. Encouraging this are the combined efforts by the Norwegian Action Committee and the Aga Khan Foundation to introduce eco-friendly tourism that will help the local economy. With financing from the NAC and expertise from the AKF, a series of guesthouses have been set up along the corridor up to the last motorable point of Sarhad-e-Broghil, from where the way forward is on yaks, donkeys, horses or camels. Trekking routes and itineraries have been identified by the AKF.

A very interesting read at the source.

The eco-tourism project will be undertaken by the Aga Khan Foundation and the provincial government who are long-term partners of NZAID in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said Friday New Zealand would support an eco-tourism project in Bamyan province in Afghanistan over the next three years. Clark made the announcement at the NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, where the alliance leaders discussed international support for Afghanistan’s rebuilding.

The ancient Bamyan Buddhas and the renowned Bandi-e Amir lakes in Bamyan have great tourism potential, with the Bamyan Valley already recognized as a World Heritage Site.

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Drums are seen on a line during a music performance organized by The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) at the Baghe Babur in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, March 29, 2008. Playing music was once forbidden as many other things during the fundamentalist regime of the Taliban, who were ousted from power by U.S. forces in late 2001.

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MONTREAL, April 2 /CNW Telbec/ - Premier Jean Charest will be the Guest of Honor at the Gala Reconnaissance to be held on Thursday, April 3rd, to commemorate 15 years of Afghan Ismaili settlement in the province of Quebec.

This event is being organized by His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismaili Council for Canada (Ismaili Council) and will take place at 7PM at Le Windsor, 1170 Peel Street.

In September 1992, the Government of Quebec and the Ismaili Council signed a unique protocol agreement which laid the foundation for the collaborative work that resulted in the settlement and integration of the first 350 Afghan Ismaili refugees. Based on the success of this first protocol, the Government of Quebec signed five additional protocols with the Ismaili Council between April 1994 and August 2001 to settle additional refugees in Quebec. In all, over 1,600 Afghan refugees settled in Quebec under these protocols.

In the years following these protocols, the sponsored refugees have, in turn, sponsored their family members under the government’s family reunification program. Currently, more than 5,000 Afghan Ismailis are successfully settled in six cities in Quebec.

During this event, “we want to express our gratitude to the Government of Quebec for its support in allowing us to sponsor our Afghan brothers and sisters who were in distress” said Nizar Sultan, Chief Executive Officer of the Ismaili Council. “Gala Reconnaissance is a tribute to the courage, determination and resilience of the Afghan refugees, to the generosity of the host society, and to the many individuals and civil society organizations that contributed to this successful settlement story. Quebec is now the permanent home of many Afghan Ismailis and they are contributing fully to Quebec society.”

Gala Reconnaissance is occurring during the year of the Golden Jubilee of His Highness the Aga Khan as the Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims. The Aga Khan is also Founder and Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a group of nine development agencies with mandates ranging from health and education to architecture, culture, microfinance, disaster reduction, rural development, the promotion of private-sector enterprise and the revitalization of historic cities.

For further information on the AKDN, please visit www.akdn.org. The Ismaili Muslims are a community of ethnically and culturally diverse peoples living in more than 25 countries around the world, united in their allegiance to the Aga Khan as the 49th hereditary Imam and direct descendant of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him). For further information on the
Ismaili community, please visit www.TheIsmaili.org

Source

One of the lesser noticed side-effects of the war and violence in Afghanistan is the immeasurable loss caused to the country’s rich cultural heritage. Architectural masterpieces and museums have been bombed and looted over the years, music and television were banned by the Taliban for several years, and some of the country’s greatest talents are now living in exile.

This has not prevented some people from even risking their lives to preserve what is left and to breathe new life into the rich traditions that have been created by generations of Afghans and the traders and travellers that came here from across the Asian continent and the Mediterranean.

Complete at the source

20.03.2008 09:29

Author: Bahrom Mannonov / Asia-Plus Tajikistan

DUSHANBE, March 20, Asia-Plus — The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) has teamed with the Government of Tajikistan and the Government of Afghanistan in organizing Tajik-Afghan cross-border concerts to celebrate the Navrouz holiday. Concerts are being held today in Khorog, the main town of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (Gorno Badakhshan or GBAO) and in neighboring Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province.

Today, singers and musicians from Tajikistan will be crossing the border at the site of the Friendship Bridge in Khorog and performing traditional songs and dances for audiences on the other side of the Panj River. Tomorrow, Afghan performers will hold a traditional concert program in Khorog.

Ms. Sitora Shokamolova. Communications Officer, AKDN Tajikistan, noted that a group of more than 20 musicians including Umar Timurov and Faizali Hasanov, national singers of Tajikistan, and the local Badakhshani Ensemble headed by Sohiba Davlatova will perform in the open-air area near the Teacher’s Training College in the village of Bashor, Afghanistan. Afghan performers will join Navrouz celebrations in Khorog and perform their traditional program in an open-air area in the Shosh-Khorog neighborhood.
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AGA KHAN TRUST FOR CULTURE
Historic Cities Programme

Eastern wing of the Hafezji mosque showing the newly produced screen-windows, orosi, that were traditionally used in buildings of this era in the old city. In the courtyard preparations are being made for spring planting.

Newsletter opens in PDF

Burqa clad Afghan woman buy groceries outside the old castle in the old part of Herat city north east of Kabul, Afghanistan, 21 February 2008. The conservation of historical places is part of a wider rehabilitation project implemented by the Historical Cities Support Programme of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, with support from the German federal foreign Office. The Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme (HCP) promotes the conservation and re-use of buildings and public spaces in historic cities in the Muslim World.

Burqa clad Afghan women walk in the old part of Herat city north east of Kabul, Afghanistan, 21 February 2008.

Afghan men walk in the old part of Herat city north east of Kabul, Afghanistan, 21 February 2008.

Afghan girls walk in the old part of Herat city north east of Kabul, Afghanistan, 21 February 2008.

NEW DELHI: A unique photo exhibition after travelling all the way from its place of origin, Afghanistan, has finally made its way to the Capital.

Titled “Footloose in Afghanistan”, the three-day exhibition that opens this coming Monday features the works of two amateur photographers, Rakesh Sood and Aly Mawji. These artistes spent years working towards rebuilding the war ravaged land of Afghanistan and fell in love with its harsh beauty, its soft, poetic heart and its vulnerable and indomitable spirit.

—

As representative of the Aga Khan Development network in Afghanistan, Aly Mawji received the Raymond Georis Prize for innovative philanthropy and for his contributions “to the long term development of Afghanistan and a strengthening of its communities” in 2005.

Despite his busy schedule, he manages to find time for his camera, flying, poetry and literature.

His photographs titled “Children in Badakshan: 1998-2000” during the civil war were exhibited at universities in the Unites States.

The Hindu
Thai Indian
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Picture Perfect - Hindustan Times