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Brief histories of the
first clubs of each geographic regions or countries
Rotary Club of KABUL,
the First Club of AFGHANISTAN
Rotary International
District 3270 Part of our section on
ASIA
The
Rotary Club of Kabul, Afghanistan, was welcomed back into Rotary
International 28 March 2003, ending a 24-year absence of Rotary
in that country and raising the total number of countries in
which Rotary clubs are active to 166.
The club had previously existed from 1968 to
1979, but more than two decades of war and political instability
made it impossible for it to remain active.
The addition of the reinstated Rotary Club of
Kabul marks another milestone in Rotary's expansion into Muslim
countries. Before Afghanistan, The United Arab Emirates was the
most recent predominantly Muslim country to join Rotary's family
when the Rotary Club of Dubai was chartered last year.
Boasting 41 charter members, the newly formed
club will be a part of District 3270 with Pakistan. RI President
Bhichai Rattakul was instrumental in facilitating the work of
the Rotary Club of Hayward Sunset, California, USA, which is
comprised almost entirely of Afghan immigrants, to sponsor the
provisional club along with the Rotary Club of Uni Town
Peshawar, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan.
As a new member of Rotary's international
association of clubs, the Rotary Club of Kabul can make use of
the many resources that exist within Rotary International and
The Rotary Foundation - not to mention the vast network of clubs
and their 1.2 million members - to partake in projects that will
help the country continue to rebuild its
infrastructure and
address a plethora of humanitarian concerns following recent
events there.
Although Rotary has been away from Afghanistan for years, the
Foundation has supported polio eradication activities in the
country. Also, in Rotary year 2001-02, during and immediately
after the war that ended the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan,
Rotarians rallied to the aid of Afghan refugees and internally
displaced people. The RI Afghan Refugee Relief Effort Committee
worked in tandem with the office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees to help purchase and distribute aid, impacting the
lives of thousands of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan.
Acknowledgements to
the Rotarians of District 3450 for their contribution.
Posted by RGHF Webmaster, Greg Barlow, 4 January 2010.
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