Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

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.

India signed an MoU with Afghanistan in August for restoration of Bala Hissar fortress, pledging approximately $1 mn. Aga Khan Trust for Culture plans to compete project by 2022.

New Delhi: The restoration work of ancient fortress Bala Hissar in Afghanistan’s Kabul, which received financial aid from the Government of India in August, has started. The fortress is being converted into the country’s first archaeological park.

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) Afghanistan, which is executing the project, plans to complete the work by 2022.

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) has recently restored the 12.5 hectare Chihilsitoon Garden in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Incorporating 10,200m2 of modernised or newly constructed rammed earth buildings, the project now provides high-quality facilities for visitors.

Once a 19th century royal garden that was transformed into a state property that welcomed visiting dignitaries in the 20th century, Chihilsitoon was looted during the Afghan Civil War of the early 1990s and left in a severely damaged state.

(MENAFN - Daily Outlook Afghanistan) KABUL - A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Tuesday at the Presidential Palace on power supply to northeastern Badakhshan province and construction of a hydroelectric dam there at a cost of $631 million.

A statement from the Presidential Palace received by Pajhwok Afghan News said the MoU was signed between acting energy and water minister Mohammad Gul Khulami and Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) head Eng. Amanullah Ghalib and representative of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).

Work on renovation of Chihil Sutun Palace – meaning Forty Columns in English – a cultural heritage from the 19th century, has been completed. The palace was built by Abdur Rahman Khan who was Emir of Afghanistan from 1880 to 1901.

The palace, that includes a garden and a pavilion, is lying over 60 acres of land in Kabul’s Chihil Sutun area in PD7. It is expected to attract thousands of visitors from Kabul and other provinces of the country.

The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) have channeled roughly around $700 million of assistance to Afghanistan since the foundation begun it’s engagement in Afghanistan in 1995.

More than 2.5 million people have benefited from the assistance which mainly focuses on world development health care, education, financial services, mobile telephony and other sectors.

President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani met with Nurjehan Mawani, the Ambassador of High Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan in Afghanistan, to discuss the future of Aga Khan Development Network development projects in Afghanistan.

The Office of the President, ARG Palace, in a statement said the meeting was organized in ARG Presidential Palace on Saturday morning.

The statement further added that two sides discussed the implementation of projects by Aga Khan Development Network in various countries in energy, communications, and agriculture.