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Afghanistan is to get a second mobile phone service within weeks.The Telecom Development Company of Afghanistan (TDCA) officially launched Roshan - which means 'light' in Pashto - on Thursday.
The new GSM network will now undergo tests for the next four to six weeks before its commercial launch.
The firm says it will roll out its service in Kabul and the main cities of Herat, Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif, Jalalabad and Kunduz by the end of the year, at a cost of about $55m (

The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) on Friday received a banking licence for setting up The First Micro Finance Bank (FMFB) in Afghanistan.The institution, with an initial capital of $5 million, will be the first of its kind to be established under the country's new regulatory structure.

The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (Akfed) has announced a substantial investment to initiate tourism, commercial and urban redevelopment in Afghanistan.
The fund will establish a world-class hotel in the centre of the country's capital Kabul, Prince Amyn Aga Khan, the younger brother of His Highness the Aga Khan, has said.

Exiled Ismailis returning to their homes in the north find little has changed since end of Taleban era.
Afghanistan's Ismaili community, which suffered mass killings under the Taleban regime, is now facing persecution under the country's new transitional democratic government.

His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and Mr.

The hotel helps fill a shortage of guest accommodation in the city The Afghan capital, Kabul, has a new, international standard five-star hotel, the first to be built since the fall of the Taleban four years ago. President Hamid Karzai opened the Serena hotel, which has been built around the remains of another hotel badly damaged by fighting.
It is hoped that it will help attract more business people to invest in the poverty-stricken country and in the longer term attract wealthy tourists.

His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam (spiritual leader) of the Ismaili Muslims, today attended the official inauguration of Afghanistan?s President Hamid Karzai, in a ceremony held in the former royal palace in Kabul. The inauguration ceremony was attended by more than 600 people, including more than 150 foreign dignitaries, among them U.S Vice President Richard Cheney, Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld and Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. Special Adviser.

Der Aga Khan f'rdert ein einzigartiges Kultur- und Bildungsprogramm in den zentralasiatischen Nationen entlang der alten Seidenstra

Kabul is currently in the midst of a hotel-construction boom, with many of the new or refurbished facilities planning to offer luxury accommodation for visitors to this devastated capital city.

An international consortium lead by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development has begun testing its GSM network in Kabul, Afghanistan. This is the country's second commercial GSM network, although a third license award has been claimed by Ariana Telecom which has yet to start building an infrastructure. There is also a GSM network in Kabul operated by Ericsson for the UN forces in the city. Telecom Development Company Afghanistan (TDCA), is owned by a consortium in which the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development holds 51%, Monaco Telecom International 35% and MCT Corp. 9%.

Over the next few weeks Afghanistan's banking sector will move from comprising just six rundown specialist banks to one where several international commercial operations compete for business -- with perhaps even an ATM machine around the corner.
The National Bank of Pakistan is the only foreign bank operating in the country, but competition is building with First Micro Finance Bank, majority-owned by the Agha Khan Fund for Economic Development, and British-based Standard Chartered preparing to open soon.

Soucieux de promouvoir le commerce international et le rapatriement des avoirs des Afghans à l'étranger, le gouvernement afghan pousse à l'implantation des banques étrangères en Afghanistan, qui pourrait se traduire par l'rture de distributeurs automatiques de billets à Kaboul.

The Kabul Serena Hotel, which is being thoroughly refurbished according to Serena standards, is set amid handsome gardens overlooking Zanegar Park and a busy junction in the city's commercial centreKabul, Afghanistan, 23rd June, 2004 - The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, charged with promoting private sector investment in the developing world, have signed a US$7 million investment agreement to finance the refurbishment and expansion of the Kabul Serena Hotel as part of a US$28 million project begu

Prince Amyn Aga Khan, younger brother of His Highness the Aga Khan, today announced a substantial investment by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) to initiate tourism, commercial and urban redevelopment in the capital of Afghanistan through the establishment of a world-class hotel in the centre of Kabul.

Projet hydroélectrique dans le centre de l'Afghanistann Une équipe d'ingénieurs indiens se rend dans la province de Bâmyân, au centre de l'Afghanistan, afin de mener un travail d'étude devant déboucher sur la construction d'un barrage hydroélectrique.

In the drive to supplement the relief efforts in the quake-devastated areas of the countries various organisations in the public and privates sectors have offered aid and other services.
According to a press release, the Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the Ismaili community and founder of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), in a letter to President Pervez Musharraf has assured the government of support for relief assistance for the earthquake victims, affected in all areas.

Afghanistan to grant licences to first foreign banks in yearsAfghanistan ratified new commercial and central banking laws yesterday and would issue its first operating licences to private-sector banks this week, the country's top banking official said.

Afghanistan ( news - web sites) has licensed an international consortium led by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) to set up its second mobile phone network, the fund said in a statement on Saturday.
The Geneva-based AKFED said it had a 51 percent stake in the project, while Monaco Telecom International (MTI) will hold 35 percent of the equity, U.S.-based MCT Corp nine percent and French telecoms giant Alcatel five percent.

Philanthropist Karim Aga Khan, left, and Afghanistan's Interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai applaud a group of young Afghan girls, who sang and scattered glitter during a ceremony marking the start of the school year, Saturday, March 23, 2002, at Amoni High School in Kabul, Afghanistan. Girls will be allowed to go back to school for the first time in five years, since the fall of the Taliban, who prohibited girls from attending school. (AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett)

Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman, in a historic visit to Afghanistan, today announced that USDA intends to donate $5 million of U.S. agricultural commodities under the Food for Progress Program. Veneman also announced the first Cochran Fellowship Program with Afghanistan to provide short-term, U.S.-based training for eight Afghan women to study agricultural finance.