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

Kabul's hotels prepare for visitors' returnTo step through the door of Room 132 of the Kabul Hotel is to fall 20ft to a pile of rubble below.

The white-painted doorway is all that remains of the room that, along with a big chunk of the hotel, was bombed during Afghanistan's fierce civil war.

Over the coming months, Room 132 will be rebuilt as part of a $26m reconstruction project aimed at turning the 110-room hotel into a five-star attraction with shops, a health club and a Mogul-style garden.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai inaugurated the five-star Serena Hotel here Tuesday, saying that after 30 years of armed conflict the country could boast of a hotel that could provide the best hospitality.
The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) spent more than $30 million and two and a half years to rebuild and upgrade the former Kabul hotel originally built in 1945 and badly damaged in the 1990s.

08 November 2005 04:17http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4417072.stm
Mail & Guardian Online
Kabul, Afghanistan
President Hamid Karzai officially opened the most luxurious hotel in destitute Afghanistan on Tuesday, with the five-star Kabul Serena touted as a means to lure investors and dollar-spending tourists.

The $36,5-million hotel, opposite the heavily fortified presidential palace, is an almost-total overhaul of the once-famous Kabul Hotel that was badly damaged in the 1992-1996 civil war that destroyed much of the capital.

KABUL - There's a riddle here few people can solve.
What organization controls the country's largest cellphone company, is throwing itself into humanitarian development work in some of the poorest provinces in Afghanistan, is building the city's first five-star hotel, is restoring historic landmarks in Kabul - and is dominated by Canadians?

Work has begun to rehabilitate and preserve one of Afghanistan's most historical sites to its original splendour. The tomb of the 16th century Mogul emperor, Babur, and the grounds surrounding it in the Afghan capital Kabul, are to be restored to their former glory by Afghans themselves, with help from the Aga Khan Foundation and the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Recovery and Employment Afghanistan Programme (REAP), funded by the Japanese government.

Afghan girls went back to school for the first time in five years Saturday, elated and emotional at the end of the draconian ban on female education imposed by the now ousted Taliban regime.
Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai and the UN's special envoy for Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi led a ceremony to celebrate the start of the new school year at the capital's Amani High School.

The chairman of the interim administration of Afghanistan, Esteemed Hamed Karzai, received today at the Gul Khana Palace Prince Karim Aga Khan [IV] and signed an agreement on expanding cooperation...
According to Bakhtar information agency, during the talks with Prince Karim Aga Khan in the Gul Khana Palace, the chairman of the interim administration of Afghanistan, Hamed Karzai, spoke on the programmes of the interim administration and drew the attention of Prince Aga Khan to possible areas of cooperation in the reconstruction programmes for Afghanistan.

The following is a free translation of an interview published in the French daily newspaper 'La Croix' onTuesday, April 8, 2003 entitled 'Il sera difficile d'organiser la démocratie en Irak'.

The translator makes no guarantees on the accuracy of this translation. Please refer to the original French
text for a precise account of the interview.

World - The war in Iraq
'It will be difficult to organize democracy in Iraq'
In an exclusive interview to 'La Croix', the Aga Khan underlines how much war
destabilizes the Middle East. He believes that democracy should be given time to

Kabul, Afghanistan, 8 November 2005: The Kabul Serena Hotel was officially inaugurated today by His Excellency President Karzai and His Highness the Aga Khan. The opening of the restored and expanded Kabul Serena Hotel, the former Kabul Hotel, is a milestone in Afghanistan's post-conflict redevelopment.

Kabul, Afghanistan - His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and Mr. Hamid Karzai, Chairman of the Interim Authority of the Government of Afghanistan today signed an Agreement of Cooperation for Development that establishes an operating framework for the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in Afghanistan.

Serena Hotel in Kabul.

Serena Hotel in Kabul.