Development aid to Kabul reaches $1B

islamabad — Pakistan Ambassador to China Masood Khalid said on Friday that Pakistan’s development assistance to Afghanistan has reached $1 billion, adding that Islamabad’s development assistance is geared towards investment in infrastructure, education, health, agriculture and capacity building of Afghan professionals.

In the education sector, Pakistan has extended 6,000 fully funded scholarships to Afghan students while 100 seats have been reserved for women annually, he said in an interview with a Chinese magazine China Investment here. He added in 2018 around 750 Afghan students joined Pakistani universities to pursue their education.

Pakistan, he said, has setup health care facilities in Afghanistan including three hospitals — Jinnah Hospital Kabul, Naib Aminullah Khan Loghari Hospital and Nishtar Kidney Centre in Jalalabad.

The ambassador said the Pakistan government also initiated capacity building projects for Afghan healthcare professionals, under which 59 Afghan medical professionals including doctors, nurses, and technicians completed their training in 2017. In addition, 42 Afghan health professionals will start training at the Institute of Kidney Diseases, Peshawar, he added.

Masood Khalid said Pakistan was also assisting Afghanistan in the fields of agriculture, banking, railways and defence.