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KABUL(BNA): Sheikh Hamdullah Nomani, Acting Minister of Urban Development and Housing, met with Shadman Haji Bekov, Asia Regional Director of the Aga Khan Emergency Management Foundation.

According to the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, Sheikh Nomani acknowledged the valuable and significant contributions of the Aga Khan Foundation in various sectors, particularly in collaboration with the Ministry of Urban Development.

KABUL (BNA): Alhajj, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, Acting Head of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Esmatullah Esmati, Legal and Communications Officer of the Aga Khan Foundation for Habitat.

According to a statement release from the National Disaster Management Authority, based on this agreement, the Aga Khan Foundation for Habitat will implement a program worth over 565,000 U.S. dollars, providing food aid to nearly 19,000 eligible families across 11 districts in Badakhshan province.

The World Bank has approved a $16 million grant aimed at bolstering micro and small enterprises in Afghanistan, with an emphasis on women and women-led businesses, the institution announced.

Funded through the Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund (ARTF), the grant will aid the Empowering Microfinance and Enterprises for Resilience and Growth (EMRGe) initiative, with direct allocation to the Aga Khan Foundation USA.

The Aga Khan Foundation and the UK government have partnered to deliver a number of agriculture, healthcare and livelihood projects in Afghanistan.

The £11.2 million grant from UK aid will support AKF’s efforts to help Afghans move beyond immediate humanitarian relief and help communities in the struggling country rebuild, the organisation said.

(MENAFN- Wadsam) The Afghan government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the implementation of a power transmission project and construction of Sheewa Dam in Badakhshan province in Char chinar Palace on Tuesday.

Funded by Aga Khan Fund, the USD 631 million contracts are going to fulfill the electricity needs of the province for the next 30 years.

The MoU was signed by the Acting Minister of Energy and Water Mohamamd Gul Khulmi, Director of Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat Eng. Amanullah Ghalib and Representative of Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development.

(MENAFN- Wadsam) The Afghan government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the implementation of a power transmission project and construction of Sheewa Dam in Badakhshan province in Char chinar Palace on Tuesday.

Funded by Aga Khan Fund, the USD 631 million contracts are going to fulfill the electricity needs of the province for the next 30 years.

The MoU was signed by the Acting Minister of Energy and Water Mohamamd Gul Khulmi, Director of Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat Eng. Amanullah Ghalib and Representative of Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development.

Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of His Highness the Aga Khan, I thank the Governments of Germany, Qatar, the United Kingdom, as well as the United Nations, for convening this meeting at a time when so many Afghans are in peril.

It has been six months since U.S. forces pulled out of Afghanistan and the national government collapsed, and the country is in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, 30% of the nation’s 39 million people are currently at risk of severe malnutrition.

Located in the capital city of Kabul, Chihil Sutun Palace is one of the historic places built by Afghan King Shah Zaman Sadozai in 1796.

The palace served as home for many Afghan kings and emirs.

However, it was severely damaged when the civil wars erupted in the 1970s among the Mujahideen following the fall of the government of Dr. Najibullah.

In 2018, the palace was repaired by the Aga Khan Development Network in cooperation with the German government.

The palace is considered one of the historic heritage sites of Afghanistan.

Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim

Your Excellency President Hamid Karzai,
Your Highness the Aga Khan,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me the greatest pleasure to welcome you to this Enabling Environment Conference.

Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim

Your Excellency President Hamid Karzai,
Your Highness the Aga Khan,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure and honour to be with you all today. We extend our warmest thanks to all those whose dedication has made this conference possible, most especially to President Karzai and the Government of Afghanistan for their central role - as well as to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who will attend tomorrow's closing session.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network are honoured and privileged to convey our abiding commitment to the peoples of Afghanistan.

This allegiance is enduring. It is founded on the most profound respect for Afghanistan’s many traditions and the bonds of our shared humanity. AKDN’s work and its aim of improving the quality of life of all communities it seeks to serve is premised on the ethical principles of Islam, which promote peace and harmony.

INTRODUCTION

Kabul [Afghanistan] November 6 (ANI): The Taliban's spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said that the top leaders of the group met with the envoy of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), Akbar Pesnani, to discuss a comprehensive development strategy for Afghanistan, Sputnik reported.

The Taliban-announced interim government's Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi met Pesnani and the latter briefed on the activities of the AKDN agencies aimed at developing the cultural, economic and social spheres in Afghanistan, said Sputnik.

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Afghanistan has launched an information platform to track threats to cultural heritage in the country.

The Aga Khan Cultural Services' list will be hosted on major social media platforms of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and will allow the group to log threats to sites of historical importance and bring them to international attention.

KARACHI - The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) on Monday urged the international community to remain engaged and to act, with compassion and foresight, to address dire humanitarian conditions in Afghanistan.

In a statement delivered by Michael Kocher, General Manager of the Aga Khan Foundation, at the invitation of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres at the High-level Ministerial Meeting on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan, the AKDN affirmed that its commitment to the people of Afghanistan remains unshaken.

As the clock ticks to Tuesday’s deadline for American forces to leave Afghanistan, the arts and culture sector faces a sobering new reality. After the Americans leave, what will happen to Afghan artists and performers, cultural workers, and nongovernmental organization staffers engaged with heritage, traditional crafts and preservation? There are no answers, but their future depends not just on what the Taliban does, but how deeply civil society has taken root in Afghanistan over the past two decades.

Twenty years ago, the Taliban attached dynamite to two 6th-century Buddhas in the Bamiyan valley and famously blew the enormous statues to bits. The group’s reputation has since been synonymous with the destruction of cultural heritage, and many assume that their return to power will bring about a similar campaign of devastation.

But when the Taliban entered Kabul this month, they posted guards around the National Museum of Afghanistan, saving its antiquities from any feared looting. No vandalism or destruction of major heritage sites has yet been reported.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Monday, arrived Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, to hold discussions on promoting peace and stability in the south Asian country.

The ex-president is said to have held discussions with Sheherzade Hijri, ambassador of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), and other diplomatic representatives.

Mansoor Khan, ambassador of Pakistan to Afghanistan, confirmed the development via a tweet on his official handle on Monday.

PHOTO: 2004, July 7th, H.H. The Aga Khan, Mowlana Hazir imam in Afghanistan with Sayed Mansoor Naderi, political leader in Afghanistan since many years and his elder son, both Ismailis.