American University of Afghanistan may close next year
Kabul/IBNS: The American University of Afghanistan is planning to shut down next year, media reports said.
The American University of Afghanistan is drawing up plans to shut down next year, a casualty of anticipated US government budget slashing of the school's steady stream of funding, three sources familiar with the planning tell CNN.
The university is considered as one of the major educational institutes in Afghanistan.
It provides Western-style education to the students.
According to media reports, the university, which was established in 2006, depends on US Agency for International Development for more than 60% of its budget.
The current funding will last through May. The university's annual budget is about $28 million, the school's president, David Sedney, told CNN.
In recent weeks, USAID had a close-out meeting with university personnel at the US Embassy in Kabul, sources told CNN. They covered the procedures for closing a project. The USAID administrator, Mark Green, had a meeting with members of the university's board of trustees in Washington earlier this month and made no firm commitments to renew funding.
"At a meeting with members of the AUAF Board of Trustees on December 9, 2019, USAID's leadership once again strongly encouraged the university to diversify its funding sources, as representatives from the Agency had done in past correspondence and previous meetings, both in Washington and in Kabul," a USAID spokesperson told CNN. "AUAF's Board, not USAID, has the fiduciary responsibility to make decisions regarding the future of the university, which is an independent entity."
"In March, international staff will start looking for new jobs. If we are not able to offer contracts by April they will take other jobs," said a source familiar with the university's planning for a possible shutdown to the American news channel.
A Taliban attack incident in 2016 on the university had left 15 persons killed.
Kevin King, an American, and Timothy Weeks, an Australian, who were both recently released in a prisoner swap preceding resumed peace talks, were professors at AUAF when they were kidnapped in 2016, reported Tolo News.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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