KABUL - The US embassy in Kabul on Monday said it had arranged 100 Fulbright scholarships for Afghan students.

In an exclusive interview, the embassy spokesman told Pajhwok Afghan News the scholarships in five sections would be provided for the 2014 and 2015.

“The scholarships would be available for doctoral and master’s studies, and training university teachers,” Abbas Kamond said, explaining the objective was to improve Afghan students’ capacity.

The Fulbright program for Afghanistan that began in 1952 sponsored over 105 American and 250 Afghan students till 1979.

Later, the program stayed suspended for 23 years until it was restarted in 2003 with the reopening of the US embassy in Kabul. Over 300 Afghans had so far availed the facility, he said.

For cultural and family reasons, the Afghans rarely allow female students to join the scholarship program. As a result, the US government had decided to provide the facility for women inside Afghanistan, he explained.

“One hundred special scholarships have been reserved for women at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul to enable male and female students to equally benefit from the scholarships,” Kamond concluded. (Pajhwok)