1

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%

2

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.

3

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.

4

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:

pratt@afghanembassyjp.org

Afghan News, June 2013