Ahmadzai to turn east into economic hub

KABUL (Pajhwok): Leading presidential candidate Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai on Thursday said he would turn eastern provinces into a huge economic, transit trade hub and a defensive gate to the central capital Kabul.

He was addressing a campaign rally in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, where tens of thousands of people from neighbouring Kunar, Nuristan and Laghman provinces had arrived.

Religious scholars and tribal elders from the eastern provinces also took part in the rally.

If won the April 5 presidential elections, Ahmadzai said he would enable eastern provinces to export electricity to the rest of Afghanistan and neighbouring countries, including India.

He also promised establishing an international standard Islamic university in the east and returning the past glory to the Nangarhar University.

The former finance minister said a science and technology centre would be established in the east, where another centre to enrich Pashtun language would be set up.

He said eastern provinces would earn a reputation of an industrial centre, which would export goods across the globe.

Ahmadzai also said the land in eastern Afghanistan was fertile and he would bring in use waters flowing to neighbouring countries, besides overhauling the canalisation project in Nangarhar.

Meanwhile, two separate gatherings were organized in Kabul and southern Helmand province in support of Ahmadzai and another front-line presidential runner Zalmai Rassoul.

Rassoul, a former foreign minister, was pledged support at the gathering in Kabul. Around 400 residents from Wazirabad, Qala Fathullah and Thaimani areas took part in the rally.

In Helmand, hundreds of people took part in a rally supporting Ahmadzai in Lashkargah, the provincial capital.

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