*EPF514 05/23/2003
Text: State Department Supports Establishment of Afghan Studies Institute
(Institute's first U.S. scholars to travel to Afghanistan at year's end.) (340)

Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Patricia Harrison has announced the establishment of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies, which is intended to help revitalize connections between the academic communities in the United States and Afghanistan, according to a State Department media note May 23.

Following is the text of the media note:

(begin text)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
May 23, 2003

MEDIA NOTE

Department of State Support for Establishment of American Institute for Afghan Studies

Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Patricia S. Harrison announced the establishment of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies (AIAS) in a ceremony at the Sackler Gallery of Art on Thursday, May 22. Founded through the cooperation of the Department of State and the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies will be the principal institution to enable over 50 U.S. colleges and universities and other organizations and individuals to revitalize connections between the U.S. and Afghan academic communities.

The American Institute of Afghanistan Studies will establish and operate an American Overseas Research Center (ORC) in Kabul. The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs provides funding for eighteen American Overseas Research Centers in the Middle East, South Asia and other parts of the world.

Duke University has agreed to house Institute's U.S. secretariat, and fifty other institutions have signed on from across the country to lay the groundwork for the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies operations in the United States and in Kabul. We project that the first U.S. scholars going to Afghanistan under Institute auspices will travel in the fall.

The American Overseas Research Center in Kabul also will serve as a platform to launch new educational initiatives, support "community scholarship" and civil society efforts serving citizens of Kabul and throughout Afghanistan, and promote ties between U.S. and Afghan society.

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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