Pakistan and Afghanistan share a long border with historical, cultural, religious, and demographic bonds.
Despite long frosty relations at the political level, people-to-people contact between the two had always surpassed the political differences which were further enhanced by Pakistan’s efforts to reach out to the common Afghan masses.
Pakistan continues to play its role in bringing peace to Afghanistan and other fields, including health and education.
Education is one key area where Pakistan has been putting a lot of effort to educate Afghan youth residing here as refugees and providing quota in educational institutes to Afghanistan-based youth.
Pakistan has announced several scholarships for Afghan students of which one is the provision of scholarships to 1,000 students every year in different universities to Pakistan under the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
This year over 16,000 Afghan students had applied for scholarships. The candidates were screened in collaboration with the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul.
Out of the successful candidates, 50 students have been selected for the Ph.D. program, 150 for Masters, and 800 students for the undergraduate program.
The Scholarship Program for Afghan Students was launched in 2009. So far, 4,500 students have graduated from various Pakistani universities under this program.
In a statement, HEC said that the program is part of bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan and the international community’s efforts at the political level.
Apart from regular students, those Afghans working in various government departments and ministries of Afghanistan are also illegible to apply for the scholarship to continue their higher studies.
Welcoming Pakistan’s efforts for the promotion of education in Afghanistan, Abdur Rauf Yousafzai a senior journalist who is an expert on Pak-Afghan affairs said that such programs help create an environment for peace and trust-building among the people of both nations.
While commenting on the initiative of the Pakistan government Tahir Stanakzai an Afghani student studying at Peshawar University said that both countries should maintain such student exchange programs as confidence-building measures.
He stated that the common people of Afghanistan have very positive feelings for the people of Pakistan but the external enemies through their propaganda have created uncertainties among the masses of both nations.
