Secret behind the development of other countries is education
KABUL - President Karzai said on Tuesday the Afghan youth have a huge potential and Afghanistan would become the strongest nation of the world if its youth utilized their aptitude for education.
Addressing the second Afghan Youth High Council General Assembly in Kabul, President Karzai said that Afghanistan that relies on foreign assistance is a weak country and can be invaded or occupied by any other country. "The reason behind this is that we are not an educated nation," he said.
He said the Afghan youth's abilities were unique and they had great achievements in education and sports over the past few years.
"Our youth demonstrated their potential by crushing many foreign countries in the world cricket competitions," Karzai said, explaining there were countries in the region which were more backward compared to Afghanistan, but their nations managed to develop their countries using the opportunities under occupation.
"India was a poor country over the past 30 to 50 years, but it is now one of the world's richest countries. India exports a bulk of its wheat and flour to Afghanistan," the president said.
"There is a secret behind the development of other countries and that secret is education," Karzai said, adding as long as Afghan engineers are unable to build bridges, doctors treat patients and government servants paid from the country's domestic income, the country could not achieve its goals for development. "I call on you to learn, learn and learn," Karzai insisted.
He further said the Afghan government had now the capacity to provide the youth education opportunities. He said a $5 million program initiated by the Afghan government had been providing the youth opportunities for higher education in India and Turkey. The program's budget will be further increased to $10 million next year and up to $15 million in the following year.
The second Afghan Youth High Council General Assembly was attended by hundreds of youth from across the country.