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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.

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.

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.

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.

April 8, 2006 Kabul, Afghanistan: Afghan President Hamid Karzai (L), the Aga Khan (C), and French First Lady Bernadette Chirac (2nd R) inspect the guard of honour before their meeting at the presidential palace in Kabul April 8, 2006. The three participated in the inauguration of a medical clinic set up in Kabul by the French government with the help of the Aga Khan Foundation.

April 8, 2006 Kabul, Afghanistan:His Highness The Aga Khan, with Mme Bernadette Chirac, Alain Deloche, the founder of La Chaîne de l’Espoir (left), and Phillipe Douste-Blazy, the French Foreign Minister (right) at the inauguration ceremony for the French Medical Institute for Children (FMIC) in Kabul.

April 8 ,2006 Kabul, Afghanistan :H. H. The Aga Khan touring the French Medical Institute for Children (FMIC) in Kabul, with Mme Bernadette Chirac.