Educating Afghans not an OSCE pipe dream
01.12.2009. Category:Kazakhstan
Fresh from Kabul, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev vowed to strengthen the humanitarian dimension of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s strategy for Afghanistan when his country assumes the OSCE's chairmanship in January 2010. The situation in Afghanistan now appears to be definitely worse than it was a couple years ago.
“Without the stabilization of Afghanistan we cannot even begin speaking about the stabilization of our region, not to mention the security in Europe because Afghanistan is a source of international terrorism and a main supplier of drugs for Europe and across the Atlantic,” Saudabayev told western journalists at a group interview at the foreign ministry on 24 November.
“Even though Afghanistan is not a member of the OSCE and geographically is outside the scope of the OSCE, it is a so-called neighbor of the OSCE and there are 32 member states of the OSCE who are involved in Afghanistan in one way or another,” the minister added.
Saudabayev also addressed the upcoming OSCE chairmanship during the plenary session of IV Civil Forum in Astana on 25 November. For many years, the international community has tried to resolve the problem of Afghanistan, Saudabayev told the visiting journalists, adding that Kazakhstan has always believed that the problem of Afghanistan cannot be solved solely by military means. “We have paid a great deal of attention to the humanitarian component trying to bring the Afghans into normal economic relations and unfortunately, of course, the Afghans have grown up with weapons at hand but our priority is to bring them to peaceful interaction. We need to create conditions for the Afghans to live, to grow crops, to build, to create not to destroy and we have supported this vision with specific steps,” the minister said.
Kazakhstan will spend $50 million during the next five years to educate 1,000 Afghans under an agreement between the two countries signed on 22 November in Kabul. “We have developed a specifically-designed educational program for the Afghans and yesterday (22 November) I did visit Afghanistan and there together with my counterpart, the Afghan foreign minister (Rangin Spanta), signed an agreement and I also met with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and we discussed this program which we developed by the way with them.
Under that program during the next five years we will educate 1,000 Afghans to be agricultural engineers, medical doctors, engineers, constructors. In other words we will teach them to build not to destroy, not to kill,” Saudabayev said.
Over the past several years, Kazakhstan has transferred $2.4 million towards reconstruction in Afghanistan, including for building a school, a hospital and a road, as well as sending 2,000 tons of wheat as humanitarian assistance. This year, under the program of assistance to Afghanistan for 2009-2011, $1.5 million are to be allocated.
“Strengthening the humanitarian dimension is perhaps the way forward which will give a new positive dynamism in the situation in Afghanistan,” Saudabayev said. As US President Barack Obama prepares to pour up to 35,000 more US troops into Afghanistan, Saudabayev said, “OSCE perhaps is exactly the structure that can deal with this humanitarian dimension as supposed to mostly military organizations that are involved in Afghanistan.”
Source: Gazeta.kz
“Without the stabilization of Afghanistan we cannot even begin speaking about the stabilization of our region, not to mention the security in Europe because Afghanistan is a source of international terrorism and a main supplier of drugs for Europe and across the Atlantic,” Saudabayev told western journalists at a group interview at the foreign ministry on 24 November.
“Even though Afghanistan is not a member of the OSCE and geographically is outside the scope of the OSCE, it is a so-called neighbor of the OSCE and there are 32 member states of the OSCE who are involved in Afghanistan in one way or another,” the minister added.
Saudabayev also addressed the upcoming OSCE chairmanship during the plenary session of IV Civil Forum in Astana on 25 November. For many years, the international community has tried to resolve the problem of Afghanistan, Saudabayev told the visiting journalists, adding that Kazakhstan has always believed that the problem of Afghanistan cannot be solved solely by military means. “We have paid a great deal of attention to the humanitarian component trying to bring the Afghans into normal economic relations and unfortunately, of course, the Afghans have grown up with weapons at hand but our priority is to bring them to peaceful interaction. We need to create conditions for the Afghans to live, to grow crops, to build, to create not to destroy and we have supported this vision with specific steps,” the minister said.
Kazakhstan will spend $50 million during the next five years to educate 1,000 Afghans under an agreement between the two countries signed on 22 November in Kabul. “We have developed a specifically-designed educational program for the Afghans and yesterday (22 November) I did visit Afghanistan and there together with my counterpart, the Afghan foreign minister (Rangin Spanta), signed an agreement and I also met with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and we discussed this program which we developed by the way with them.
Under that program during the next five years we will educate 1,000 Afghans to be agricultural engineers, medical doctors, engineers, constructors. In other words we will teach them to build not to destroy, not to kill,” Saudabayev said.
Over the past several years, Kazakhstan has transferred $2.4 million towards reconstruction in Afghanistan, including for building a school, a hospital and a road, as well as sending 2,000 tons of wheat as humanitarian assistance. This year, under the program of assistance to Afghanistan for 2009-2011, $1.5 million are to be allocated.
“Strengthening the humanitarian dimension is perhaps the way forward which will give a new positive dynamism in the situation in Afghanistan,” Saudabayev said. As US President Barack Obama prepares to pour up to 35,000 more US troops into Afghanistan, Saudabayev said, “OSCE perhaps is exactly the structure that can deal with this humanitarian dimension as supposed to mostly military organizations that are involved in Afghanistan.”
Source: Gazeta.kz