ja_mageia

To talk about the beginning of the cooperation between the IEE and the Faculty of Economics in Kabul means to go back to the very roots of the Institute itself: This cooperation date sback to the founding days of the IEE in the mid-1960s. Indeed, Afghanistan was the first regional focus for empirical research at the Institute. From 1967 until the soviet invasion of the country, IEE members contributed considerably to the teaching in the bachelor-of-economics-programme of the Faculty of Economics in Kabul. Along with two others universities in Bonn and Cologne, the IEE als Administered and coordinated the cooperation between German and Afghan partners. Unfortunately, with the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union in 1979, the cooperation with the country came to a sudden halt. Nevertheless, the contacts between the Institute and Afghan people remained. The IEE became an important address for Afghan refugees in Germany searching for and finding administrative and humanitarian support at the Institute. But at that time social commitment was only one of the many ways in which we tried to keep in touch. The IEE, continuously motivated by its former executive director Ernst-Albrecht von Renesse and its funding director Prof. Willy Kraus, conserved partly its scientific interests on Afghanistan, as demonstrated by conferences and meetings in Germany analysing the chances for a future reconstruction of the country after the hoped-for end of the civil war. With the seeming stability of Afghanistan under the Taleban regime, efforts were made to restart communication with the Afghan colleagues at the Faculty of Economics in Kabul. But it took until 2000, when Prof. N. Shahidie, Dean of the faculty at the time, was able to visit the old partner universities of Bochum, Bonn and Cologne with the financial support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for the first time.

During the years 2001/2002, the situation in Afghanistan changed again dramatically. The tragic events of September 11th 2001, the ensuing defeat of the Taleban regime and the establishment of the Afghan interim government of President Karzai all of a sudden opened up opportunities for a new phase of cooperation with our partners in Kabul. The German government made considerable efforts to support the reconstruction of Afghanistan including the revival of academic cooperation. The IEE proved to be ready to contribute to this revival, particularly thanks to its long-term knowledge of and links to its Afghan partners. Prof. Löwenstein as a member of a DAAD delegation visited the Faculty of Economics in Kabul in April 2002 to explore the possibilities for a renewal of our co-operation. The first impressions of this journey were multi-faceted: The flight in a transport plane of the German Bundeswehr and destroyed houses in the City of Kabul were witnesses of a certain degree of insecurity that still prevailed in Afghanistan's capital at that time. The lack of equipment in the Faculty gave an impression of the size of the task that lay ahead of the partners. On the other hand, several discussions with colleagues and students as well as the participation in a graduation ceremony at the Faculty of Economics were encouraging moments, emphasizing the significance of the long way ahead of us.