Pakistan envoy says Islamabad will continue to support Afghan students

Pakistan Ambassador to Kabul, Mansoor Ahmad Khan, said Friday that Islamabad will continue to support Afghans in the field of education and professional training.

In a meeting with Afghans who had recently graduated from Pakistani educational institutions, Khan stated that thousands of trained Afghans are working in the public and private sectors of Afghanistan.

Khan added that Pakistan’s Allama Iqbal scholarship scheme for Afghan students is the largest scholarship scheme available for Afghan students anywhere in the world.

“Since 2010, under this scheme 1,000 Afghan students, both boys and girls, have been sent annually to leading Pakistani universities and colleges in areas such as medicine, engineering, business studies, IT, banking and many other professional fields,” Khan said as quoted in a statement issued by the Pakistan Embassy.

“Scholarships also cover Masters and Ph.D. studies in selected areas.”

Khan noted that Pakistan has a “constructive contribution” in providing education opportunities for the people of Afghanistan.

“In the current situation when Afghanistan faced economic difficulties and challenges of self-reliance, opportunities for Afghans to receive higher education in Pakistan would make a constructive contribution in the efforts for overcoming these challenges,” he said.

Khan, meanwhile, underlined the importance of the international community’s cooperation for strengthening higher education opportunities in Afghanistan through the building of universities, professional colleges, and training institutions for the economic development and progress of the country.

“The members of Pak-Afghan Alumni who attended this function appreciated Pakistan’s important role in the strengthening of the education sector in Afghanistan,” the statement read.