Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq said Wednesday that Pakistan is investing in Afghanistan's education and hoped it would encourage friendly relationships between Kabul and Islamabad.
Sadiq spoke of Pakistan's commitment at the opening ceremony of a new facility in Balkh University's engineering faculty.
"Pakistan has committed, and mostly spent, US$330 million for the development of Afghanistan. Most of this money is going towards the education of Afghan students," he said in a speech to those gathered for the opening.
Construction on the new four-story building for the engineering faculty began three years ago, funded by Pakistan with a cost of US$18 million.
The faculty can now offer classes for up to 5,000 students, officials said.
"This building resolves many problems for students of the Balkh engineering faculty, both the building itself and [other issues such as shortage of] chairs. There is now the opportunity to offer a better education to the students," said Atta Mohammad Noor, Balkh provincial governor.
Welcoming the assistance from the neighbouring Pakistan for constructing the new faculty, the Minister of Higher Education Obaidullah Obaid pointed out of his ministry's development budget for future projects.
"For the current solar year, we are planning to reconstruct buildings for a number of faculties of Balkh University from the ministry's development budget and with cooperation from funding organisations," he said.
Obaid said he considered the new building of the engineering faculty as a prominent step towards growth and strengthening higher education of Afghanistan.