The American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) celebrated a milestone moment in its young life on May 26th, successfully completing its first graduation ceremony. 32 graduates, nine of them women, walked across the stage in front of a cheering audience to receive their diplomas in business administration, computer science, and political science. Accolades poured in from around the world, including letters from First Lady Michelle Obama, former First Lady Laura Bush and university presidents from across the United States. US Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, who delivered the commencement address, also voiced his admiration for the graduates, thanking them in advance for “everything you will do to help your country.”

Over 1,400 people attended the ceremony, which USAID Afghanistan Mission Director Earl Gast described as “the highlight of my time in Afghanistan.”

Immediately following the graduation, AUAF president Dr. C. Michael Smith, accompanied by Ambassador Eikenberry, broke ground on a multi-million dollar project that will become the cornerstone of the university’s new campus.

AUAF is the only private, not-for-profit, independent university chartered in Afghanistan.

Several media outlets covered the graduation of the first class of students from the American University of Afghanistan on May 26. Below are several of the articles:

The Christian Science Monitor did a great piece.

American Chronicle

Tolo News

The United States Embassy in Kabul

and Wakht News.

Great Article from Dr. C. Michael Smith is the president of the American University of Afghanistan in the Christian Science Monitor:

Many Afghan college students who attend the American University in Afghanistan do. They represent the vanguard of a movement to restore Afghanistan’s intellectual capital – and peace. While militaries come and go, universities are enduring investments, at a fraction of the cost.

By C. Michael Smith / May 9, 2011

Kabul, Afghanistan
Sayyed’s cousins are members of the Taliban. His distant uncle is Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban movement. Any one of them would kill Sayyed if they knew where he was. Yet each day, he attends classes on business and management at the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF). “My father said I must have an education, because he had one,” says Sayyed. As for his cousins, he notes, “They are illiterate.”

Ten years into the war in Afghanistan, much of the talk is about surges, Taliban muscle, and exit strategies. But a growing number of military and civilian authorities are joining education advocates – people as different as nongovernmental organization English teachers and US military commanders – in agreeing that books and teachers, not just guns and soldiers, are needed to transform the country from a war-weary state to a responsible member of the international community.

Direct and sustained global support for education would hasten this transformation.

Afghan education is on the move

As it stands, education is on the move here, from Kabul to Kandahar – yes, even in the embattled spiritual center of the Taliban. In that volatile province, the United Nations notes that 50 high schools have opened in the past 10 months alone, and more than 100,000 boys and 40,000 girls have begun attending classes in the last year. (Ten years ago, girls were banned from any education, and three out of four boys did not attend school.)

Record numbers of students are applying for admission to college. These students, many of whom have overcome extreme poverty and danger to sit in front of blackboards, represent the vanguard of a movement to restore Afghanistan’s intellectual capital.

It’s an uphill battle in a country roiled by 30 years of war. A myriad of problems remain, from a lack of supplies to a dearth of qualified instructors. However, education is an area where the potential for success is stunning, particularly given the relatively low costs involved.

For less than 15 percent of what the Pentagon spends in Afghanistan every 24 hours, it is possible to open a university, hire international professors with doctoral degrees, provide housing and security, admit close to one thousand students, and keep classes going for five years.

AUAF’s students and success

Take AUAF, which quietly opened its doors in Kabul in 2006. Backed by Western governments and individual donors from Afghanistan and abroad, the university has seen its own surge since its first class of just 53 students, having grown to almost 800 men and women in less than five years. AUAF recently finished two new buildings, one for faculty offices and one for student services, to keep up with demand.

Who would risk their life to attend English and business classes? Some, like Sayyed, arrived under trying circumstances. Many are refugees, returning from neighboring countries. Most have harrowing stories to tell of avoiding the Taliban. Almost all have suffered incredible hardship for the opportunity to study on this modest, five-acre campus.

Perhaps because of that adversity, students already exhibit startling leadership skills. With the professional and educated classes decimated by astonishing brain drain and constant warfare, students on campus here – and at other schools around the country – young as they are, are already aides to politicians and doctors, heads of companies, and entrepreneurs starting organizations that will create jobs.

New leaders are an enduring investment

Embracing the freedom granted them on campus, most become increasingly assertive, confident, and secure in their capabilities and visions for the future. While the military convoys that make reconstruction efforts possible roll past the campus gates, the young men and women of AUAF spend their days perfecting English and learning the vagaries of accounting in hopes of launching new enterprises in everything from agriculture to fashion to software. Their tangible optimism about the future, often expressed on their Facebook and Twitter accounts, which are must-haves, is contagious.

This spring, some of these students will receive their degrees in AUAF’s first commencement ceremony. It is a milestone in the university’s young life – and one we should all celebrate.

While militaries come and go, universities are enduring investments. Their agendas are simple: to teach those willing to learn – and to be a beacon to young men and women as they dream about shaping a peaceful and prosperous future for their country.

Dr. C. Michael Smith is the president of the American University of Afghanistan.

To Our Dedicated Friends:

On behalf of President C. Michael Smith and the Board of Trustees of the American University of Afghanistan, it is my sincere pleasure to invite you to be part of the university’s next incredible accomplishment.  On May 26, 2011, the American University of Afghanistan will graduate its very first class of students – both men and women – on its campus in Kabul, Afghanistan.  As we celebrate with our students, we ask that you consider a donation to the AUAF Class of 2011 Fund.

The commencement ceremony is a milestone achievement for AUAF.  It marks the very first graduating class of male and female students.  We expect to have 30 graduates, eight of whom are women.  In only a few years, we have come a long way.  Since opening our doors in 2006 with 57 students, barely 1% women, AUAF’s enrollment numbers have increased to nearly 800 students.  Women now make up 21% of the overall student body, increasing by 46% from the fall to spring 2011 semesters alone.

And now – our first graduates.

To honor our first graduating class, who are paving the way for so many Afghans today; Friends of the American University of Afghanistan has committed to grant all graduation funds raised to the AUAF Class of 2011 Fund.  The Fund is a current-use gift to the university, and will make an immediate impact on AUAF’s core priority, financial aid.  An idea suggested by our graduating class, the Fund will provide financial support to AUAF’s incoming class – setting an example and a tradition of giving on behalf of AUAF graduates.  It represents their commitment to rebuilding Afghanistan…one leader at a time.

We are honored to share this celebration with you.  Thank you for your contributions of time, money, energy, and commitment – such generosity has been vital to help us reach this point.  Our hope has always been that the American University of Afghanistan will educate the future leaders of Afghanistan – and it is happening.

Please consider our warm invitation to attend AUAF’s graduation on May 26, 2011 in Kabul, Afghanistan.  If you are unable to attend, please continue your support by donating to the Class of 2011 Fund.  We need your help.

If you have any questions, please contact Heidi Schaler at heidi.schaler@friendsofauaf.org.

With Sincere Thanks,

Leslie M. Schweitzer

Chairman of the Board

Friends of the American University of Afghanistan

Great article about the impact AUAF is having from NATO.

Supporting fledgling business women in Afghanistan is more than just a passion for business studies graduate Nasri Pashtun, who moved back to Kabul from Pakistan six years ago. It is her life.

Each day, as one of 15 employees in the Goldman Sachs “10,000 Women” initiative, she teaches some of Afghanistan’s most underserved women the rudimentary lessons to business success. Something she believes would not have been possible ten years ago.

“It’s my way of contributing to a better future for Afghanistan,” says Pashtun, 24. “What could be better than teaching these Afghan women skills or knowledge that I have?”

Coming home

Since returning to a more stable Kabul from Quetta, Pakistan, at the age of 18, Pashtun enrolled at the American University of Afghanistan to complete her bachelor’s degree in business administration. “Afghanistan has changed tremendously in the last 10 years,” she says. “Whether it’s infrastructure, economy, educational institutions or media, it has changed for the better.”

“We wouldn’t have had such an excellent educational institution as the American University of Afghanistan in the time of the Taliban,” she adds. “Nor would women ever have had the chance to come out of their homes and work, bringing a source of income to the family.”

Helping Afghan women

Helping Afghan women to overcome some of the enormous problems they face has been part of Pashtun’s life ever since she became an active member of the university women’s club and self-help group. It is experience gained from these groups that she called upon when she was offered a job by Tamarra Myatt, senior director of the Goldman Sachs “10,000 Women” initiative.

“I have talked to many women and when they tell their stories, one can hardly stop their tears,” Pashtun says. “Each one of them had gone through bad times; some of them were working in the time of the Taliban which was a big threat for them. But their courage and bravery inspires me and motivates me to do more for these people and my country.”

“If they could do so much under the Taliban, we can, and we must, do a lot more today under much better living conditions,” she says.

NATO’s International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) is the first NATO operation to include gender advisors. They advise commanders and forces on how best to approach, protect and integrate women into the process of developing and stabilising Afghanistan.

As the environment has become more stable in Afghanistan, more initiatives, some private, have been set up to aid the recovery of society and businesses.

Developing initiatives for a better future

For Myatt, this means particularly focusing on developing a microfinancing program for women lacking the political clout, wealth or knowledge to set up a business for themselves.

“Developing businesses is a strategy to achieving peace, avoiding terrorism and avoiding the lack of economic opportunity,” says Myatt. “It is not the answer, but it is a piece in the puzzle.”

The programme has so far helped 180 women, with one graduate winning Fortune’s most powerful women awards for 2010. Many others have also been recognised. This has built an effective and prestigious alumni network through which new recruits are identified.

“A lot of women own businesses but won’t go public with them,” says Myatt, “but these women have access to networks that we cannot rival…Kabul has 5 million people, 49,000 cats, 39,000 dogs and 22 crazy people. We need a better strategy to help these people, and that is education. We should be integrating more than segregating.”

Changing perceptions of Afghans

Pashtun was one of over 20 students who took part in NATO’s Afghan student forum in Istanbul in September 2010. At the annual forum, which brings together students from various member nations and Afghanistan to share insights and experience, she says she found that many misconceptions were held by, and about, Afghans. Misconceptions and stereotypes she has sought to change.

“We Afghans have a certain expectation from NATO, but what we forget is that what do the local people of a NATO country think about the involvement of NATO in Afghanistan?” she explains.

She specifically remembers a Greek student coming up to her at the Istanbul forum to say that her stereotype of Afghans was proved completely wrong by Pashtun. The “real Afghanistan” is not often understood, she explains, adding that the country is a “melting pot” for culture due to the mix of influences brought back by returnees.

“As a result you see a new culture especially in the young people,” she says. “However, most of these changes are limited to urban centres. If we continue with such limited and unbalanced changes, it could bring more problems of internal segregation in the future.”

Securing Afghanistan’s future will take more than a continuous flow of help, Pashtun adds. “Afghans need to be helped, but the best way is to train these Afghan women to be able to help themselves. This is the key to sustainability.”

The Peninsula has a great story about the American University of Afghanistan.  You can read the full story here.

Last Thursday evening, I was graciously welcomed to a benefit dinner honouring former First Lady Mrs Laura W Bush for her support and contribution to the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), held in Washington, D.C.’s National Museum of Women in the Arts. More specifically, the dinner was a tribute to Mrs Bush’s generous contribution to the university’s new campus in Kabul, the aptly named Laura W Bush Women’s Resource Center, soon to be a keystone for women’s issues, rights, and development in the country. The benefit’s distinguished guests include Said T Jawad, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to the US, Dr Michael Smith, President of AUAF, promising graduates and current students of the university. The dynamic assortment of guests is unified as they are all fellow philanthropists and generous contributors to the university’s development. Ann Curry, NBC news anchor delivered a warm opening speech, paving way for Mrs. Bush, who described her conviction in higher education as a foundation for political, economic, and social stability and equality.

Prior to the dinner, regretfully, my knowledge of AUAF was limited despite that my Alma Mater is another regional AU campus. AUAF is Afghanistan’s first and only private, not-for-profit, co-educational institute of higher learning. The concept of the university was first introduced by Mrs. Bush in 2002, and four years later, the university received its first batch of undergraduate students, and recently graduated 85% of its student body. Currently, the university is educating over 500 students, which it hopes will quadruple over the next five years.

Unlike its regional AU counterparts, AUAF faces significant challenges. Amongst the most obvious are security issues, which are arguably heightened far beyond those of its sister campuses, even in politically volatile regions such as Beirut. Considering that for the past three decades Afghanistan has persistently been in war, it is remarkable that AUAF is successfully running, graduating students, amidst such political turmoil and social strife. What is more, while home to a rich culture and legendary history, decades of war have left Afghanistan with an impoverished nation, barely earning $2 per day according to official 2009 figures. Thanks to AUAF’s generous benefactors, the university is able to provide financial assistance to several diligent students, providing access to the necessary tools for improving their society.

Further, it is fascinating that AUAF is hosting a co-educational institution in a country where just last year, international reports revealed photos of young schoolgirls who were targeted by vicious assailants. Following accounts within the New York Times of posters in mosques warning, “don’t let your daughters go to school”, innocent, young, fresh-faced school girls were attacked by men on motorcycles, who viciously disfigured the girls’ faces with acid contained in squirt guns and jars.

If anything, AUAF’s students heroically personify the resilience of the Afghani people. One may even conclude that the students, with their effervescence, breathe hope, optimism, and life back into their conflict-ridden country. Four of AUAF’s current students and graduates, two men and two women, took to the stage to share their stories. Perhaps most inspiring is Masooma Habibi, a soft-spoken young graduate of Goldman Sach’s 10,000 Women program at AUAF. At the ripe age of 20, Habibi founded an internet entrepreneurship in Kabul, and currently employs 22 Afghans. Habibi’s 22 employees represent the enhanced welfare of 22 different families. Habibi and her classmates’ are testimonies for the remarkable potential unleashed from high-quality education.