AFGHANISTAN

The Asia Foundation in Afghanistan supports initiatives in governance, education, and the promotion of legal rights for women.

The Asia Foundation re-established an office in Kabul in February 2002 to launch programs in areas vital to the political, social, economic, and intellectual development of post-Taliban Afghanistan. The Foundation previously maintained an office in Afghanistan from 1954 to 1980. During that time, the Foundation supported projects in education, agriculture, trade, and law. From 1988 until the mid-1990s, the Foundation continued to support Afghan civil society, education, and women’s programs through an office in Pakistan.

Since 2002, the Foundation’s Kabul office has assisted Afghans in their efforts to rebuild Afghanistan by establishing an interim government through the Emergency Loya Jirga (“grand assembly”); supporting the development of a new constitution; providing operational support for the Constitutional Loya Jirga; assisting with the reform of the Afghan legal system; conducting voter registration, civic education, monitoring and technical planning for the October 2004 presidential election; and implementing programs for the 2005 National Assembly and Provincial Council elections.

Other Foundation programs focus on creating educational and training opportunities for women and girls, supporting development of higher education, and promoting exchanges to foster improved international relations.

POST-TALIBAN GOVERNMENT

One of the most critical challenges facing Afghanistan following a quarter century of repression and civil war has been to establish a legitimate and effective national leadership. Working closely with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), The Asia Foundation initially helped ensure that the Emergency Loya Jirga - the process of selecting an interim government - progressed in a timely and orderly way, with broad representation from across the country. To this end, the Foundation provided international observers for the selection of delegates at the local level, and key technical advisors to assist the Afghans and the United Nations throughout the Emergency Loya Jirga process.

NEW CONSTITUTION AND LEGAL SYSTEMS

In close cooperation with the United Nations and the interim government of Afghanistan, The Asia Foundation assisted the Constitutional Commission to use input from the Afghan public to draft the country's new constitution. Next, the Foundation provided planning, logistical, and operational assistance for the Constitutional Loya Jirga, where delegates debated and eventually passed the final version of the new constitution. To help ensure that the constitution is upheld, the Foundation provided two years of support to the Afghan judicial and legal reform processes through public information and awareness, law reform, and legal training.

2005 ELECTIONS

The Asia Foundation supported Afghanistan’s presidential elections in October 2004, and the National Assembly and Provincial Council elections in September 2005. Despite threats of violence, approximately 6 million Afghans - 41 percent of them women - turned out to vote on September 18, 2005 for the first National Assembly elections since 1969. Voters chose among 5,766 candidates in two simultaneous elections in 34 provinces for the Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of the National Assembly) and Provincial Councils. Leading up to the elections, The Asia Foundation expanded its voter education programs to include media training for political party leaders and independent candidates to effectively communicate their messages. The Asia Foundation also assisted the Electoral Media Commission to train and accredit broadcast and radio news managers to disseminate those messages to the public. Civic education programs utilized a variety of creative and effective outreach strategies - including radio, television, print media, traveling theatre troupes, and festivals - to reach approximately 3 million Afghans. Through a sub-contract with Kroll Government Services, the Foundation assisted the Joint Electoral Management Body and UNAMA to identify, assess, establish, and secure voter registration and polling sites in every province of Afghanistan.

SUPPORT TO CENTER OF GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS

Since 2005, The Asia Foundation has designed and deployed a comprehensive program to strengthen the Center of Government institutions in Afghanistan, specifically the President's Chief of Staff, the Office of Administrative Affairs, and the Council of Ministers Secretariat. Over the past year, 
projects have been designed to address their numerous and varied needs, including building capacities, rationalizing organizational structures and decision-making processes, and redesigning administrative work procedures. These projects have been supported through funds provided by a USAID cooperative agreement with the Foundation and through a UNDP contract supported by DFID and USAID.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS

Since 2002, the Foundation has focused on the special needs of women and girls in rebuilding their lives after the fall of the Taliban-led government. These include programs in education, professional training, and exposure to networking opportunities outside of Afghanistan. In 2005, The Asia Foundation supported 14 women lawyers - members of the Afghan Women’s Lawyers Council who were unable to complete their law degrees under the Taliban - to participate in a six-month course to update their legal skills. Recently, the Kabul University Women’s Council developed a series of booklets promoting Women’s Islamic Rights Awareness. The series of booklets, which assists men and women to understand their rights under Islamic law, is the first of its kind in Afghanistan. In 2004, The Asia Foundation supported the first female journalists to be trained in Kabul for more than a decade, and the first ever to be trained in digital media. The culmination of this training was the production of Afghanistan Unveiled, an Emmy-nominated film by these journalists that documents the lives of Afghan women in the provinces during the past decade. Through the National Geographic Society Foundation, The Asia Foundation supported the Rabia-e-Balkhi Girls High School in Kabul. The program has enabled 3,200 high school girls to have access to a library, Internet facilities, and educational programs; and 270 girls who were denied education during the Taliban era to complete an accelerated academic program and take placement exams to enter into the regular school system.

HIGHER EDUCATION

The long-term rebuilding of Afghanistan’s higher education system is essential to the country’s successful reconstruction. The Foundation’s early partner in higher education, Kabul University, plays a key role in providing the technical education and training needed to equip those who are rebuilding the country. The Foundation, under agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), serves as the fiduciary agent for the newly established American University of Afghanistan (AUAf). The two-year project will establish a set of financial and administrative systems for the new private university and help develop the capacity of AUAf to receive direct grant assistance from USAID and other donors. In partnership with Kandahar University, The Asia Foundation conducted a pilot project that provided female high school graduates with a four-month refresher course to prepare for the college entrance examination. Kandahar University, for example, currently has an enrollment of six women and 1,094 men. All of the 24 women who sat for the exam passed and have been admitted to universities to study medicine, engineering, economics, law, and agriculture. Efforts to improve education in Afghanistan are severely hampered without books, which are in short supply. Since 2002, the Foundation's Books for Asia program has donated more than 150,000 new books and journals valued at more than US$5 million to universities, schools, libraries, and non-governmental organizations throughout Afghanistan.