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KABUL, Afghanistan - Several Afghan martial arts teams displayed their skills Tuesday in Kazni, Afghanistan, before an audience of senior Afghan government officials prior to a youth shura, which focused on how youth can shape Afghanistan’s future.
More than 300 Afghan youths from Kazni attended the shura, where they, Afghan governors, ministers, and cabinet members discussed topics such as volunteering, seeking educational opportunities, networking and engaging in mentorship with elders as the youths take on increasing responsibility. This is the first time a member of the Afghan Parliament attended a youth shura.
This visit marks the 18th province visited by Deputy Minister Taimoor Eshaqzai, head of the Deputy Ministry of Youth Affairs, as he travels the country to speak to youths in order to learn what they need from the government and guide them on ways they can help become the future leaders of Afghanistan.
The minister promised to visit all 34 provinces in Afghanistan within six months, holding shuras in each location to give youth a voice, said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Kelly Brown, traditional communications officer, International Security Assistances Force Headquarters.
In Afghanistan, the youth demographic includes people ranging from 14 to 30 years old, more than 68 percent of the Afghan population falls into this category. Afghanistan currently does not include youths in the day-to-day working of the government.
During the shura, Provincial Reconstruction Teams for Wardak Province were represented by U.S. Army Lt. Col. Allen Leitschuh, civil affairs officer, PRT, who also spoke to the attendees on how the PRTs are working with the government.
The PRTs work with the Afghan government to determine what you need, he told the gathering of youths. “We build roads and schools. If the windows are broken we can replace them. If you need new desks we can purchase them,” he said.
Many of the youths present immediately put the deputy minister’s comments about networking to action by seeking to establish a dialog between English-speaking foreigners and Afghan citizens.
Many of the youth would like to have an opportunity to write and speak with foreigners to improve their grammar and speech, said Qassim, a local Afghan youth who attended the shura and represented more than a dozen youths who had a similar desire.
The youths could also provide foreigners with a similar opportunity for learning and improving their Dari and Pastoo, he said.
| Date Taken: | 03.29.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 03.31.2011 09:50 |
| Story ID: | 68031 |
| Location: | KAZNI, AF |
| Web Views: | 54 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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