Punjab

Afghanistan signs agreement to send students to LUMS

For the first time, Afghanistan will be using its public funds to support its students to get higher education abroad

Web Desk February 22, 2015

For the first time, Afghanistan will be using its public funds to support its students to get higher education abroad. PHOTO: DEUTSCHLAND.DE

LAHORE: Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) to send Afghan students to study in Lahore, Voice of America reports.

According to the memorandum, for the first time, Afghanistan will be using its public funds to support its students to get higher education abroad.

Previously, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai frequently accused Pakistan of providing Afghan Taliban with safe havens and facilitating cross-border attacks. However, with the inauguration of Ashraf Ghani as the new president, Pakistan has seen a change in attitudes and increased security cooperation.

Ghani said that Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan, Janan Mosazai, is eager to broaden the new relationship to other areas.

“We want to use the scholarship program as another bridge between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” said the Afghan envoy. The hope is that it will lead to “closer, meaningful, deeper people-to-people relations” between the two countries.

The Afghan government has pledged to spend $1 million to send students to LUMS, which will be further funded by $2 million from the Pakistani government.

The first group of five to 10 Afghan students is expected to arrive in Lahore early this summer. Mosazai expects as many women as men to be part of the group.

Afghanistan expects Pakistan to deliver on its promise of bringing Afghan Taliban to the negotiating table. If that does not happen, Ghani may run out of political capital to be friendly to Pakistan.

COMMENTS (12)

sherahmad | 9 years ago | Reply what is the admission procedure of afghan students who living in pakistan and have aghan citizin card.

Akbar Ali | 9 years ago | Reply Thats good news for afghan student to get higher education in pakistani university.we afghan student are already studying in pakistan but what procedure is about for us to get addmission in LUMS means apply inside in pakistan or fro afganistan.

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jamal ud din | 9 years ago | Reply @Zeeshan: hey bro is there any scholarship for afghan refugee who lives in pakistan ?

sherahmad sher | 9 years ago | Reply is afghan student apply directly to lums or by afghan government?

Saad A. Shah | 9 years ago | Reply @Bilal: lol.. they were checking whether the readers read throughout their news or merely read the headlines and comment

waheeda islam | 9 years ago | Reply We have long been educating afghans on how to be better muslims. Our money is better spent that way. Because we are the best at islamic education. And it is a well established way to get clout with our neighbor. I am not too sure what we can teachthe house them about engineering or science, since we are at best third rate at that. In fact we ourselves need to go elsewhere to learn that stuff. Just a reality check here before we waste a lot of money. Let's not kill the goose that laid golden eggs.

Raj - USA | 9 years ago | Reply It is a very good step and I think that it is Raheel Sherif's initiative and not the initiative of the government. For many decades, even before the soviet invasion of Afghanistan, India has been admitting many Afghans in its prestigious universities and it helped build goodwill and understanding between Afghanistan and India. Karzai also studied in an Indian university. Unfortunately for Pakistan, all that it got was jihad inclined students who are fit only for madrassa education.

abdullah | 9 years ago | Reply Pakistanis have a dangerous shortage of undergraduate and post graduate colleges and universities. We have to go abroad to countries like Russia and china because of the immense competition for the scarce seats offered by the colleges and universities in pakistan and spend hundreds of thousands of rupees and bear racism and hate while being away from home to get education. this will be grossly and criminally unjust if the pakistani taxpayers were to pay for and set aside seats for afghans at the cost of pakistani students who will have to leave their country. this is against our rights and cannot be acceptable in any way. this will result in less seats available for pakistanis and we will be the ones who suffer.

Bilal | 9 years ago | Reply Dear webdesk, what was the last para about. Pretty abrupt and non synchronous /

ABKhan | 9 years ago | Reply Now make LUMS a Jehadi institution too.

ZEESHAN | 9 years ago | Reply thats a great initiative by the Afghan and Pakistani govts. Being a LUMS alumni. I welcome our Fellow afghans to come and study at Pakistan's most prestigious university. This will bring the ppl of our two countries together.

Zeeshan | 9 years ago | Reply thats a great initiative by the Afghan and Pakistani govts. Being a LUMS alumni. I welcome our Fellow afghans to come and study at Pakistan's most prestigious university. This will bring the ppl of our countries together.

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