Dear fellow Afghans, Korean friends and distinguished visitors,

It is great pleasure for me to welcome you to the Website of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The embassy staff in Seoul are delighted of being able to provide you updated information and useful links regarding Afghanistan’s history, culture & arts, present developments, remarkable achievements and challenges, as well as about the existing cordial relationship between Afghanistan and Republic of Korea.

The Website will also help Afghan and non-Afghan visitors to acquire useful information on routine embassy functions such as visa and consular services, certifications, online forms and documents for travel, business & trade, academic and other interests.

Afghanistan and Korea share common destiny along the history, and have struggled hard for common values: democracy, justice, and prosperity for their nations. The friendly relationship and ties between Afghanistan and Korea are strong. The government and people of Korea have extended their support for peace, stability and reconstruction of Afghanistan since 2002. The Korean government has increased its level of assistance to Afghanistan financially as well as by establishing an independent Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) and sending its security personnel to Afghanistan.

Korea is a good example and a success story for Afghanistan in post conflict recovery. After the 1950s war and crises, Korea has successfully achieved exemplary democracy and economic development in a short period of time. It travelled a distance of more than a century in half a century. Thus, sharing these experiences and expertise would be of great help for Afghanistan.

Despite of tremendous challenges since 2001, the people of Afghanistan have been courageously determined to look forward and face the problems. The road we have taken is the road towards progress, peace, cooperation and prosperity. Today, the Afghan nation is a responsible and active member of the family of nations striving for a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Afghanistan.

His Excellency Hamid Karzi, President of Afghanistan, has rightly stated that the Afghan nation has a genuine desire to stand on its own feet, and not to be a burden on others shoulders. This is a milestone for our efforts to look towards future.

During the last eight years, the government of Afghanistan has worked on a broad strategy focusing on rebuilding state institutions, delivering basic public services to Afghan people. Thousands of schools have been built, over six million boys and girls, the highest in our history have been provided opportunity to get education. Hundreds of health clinics have been established boosting our basic health coverage from a depressing 9 percent in 2002 to over 85 percent today. Over 4,000 km of highways including the country round ring-road have been paved and thousands of kilometers of roads, more than ever existed in Afghanistan, have been constructed or repaired. Afghanistan’s rapid economic growth, with a double digit growth rate almost every year, has resulted in higher income and better living conditions for our people.

Strong participation of Afghan women in the society is another significant achievement. Today, women have strong presence in all sectors including cabinet ministers, deputy ministers, members of elected parliament (28% of lower house and 27% of the upper house are women), ambassadors, and high ranking officials in the government ministries.

My mission as Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to Republic of Korea is to promote existing relations between Afghanistan and Korea, further strengthen friendly people to people ties, develop economic & commercial relations, facilitate business, encourage investment by private sector, and promote cultural exchanges.

I hope this website provide you useful information and contribute in enhancing relations between the two nations furthermore.

Sincerely,

Mohammad Karim Rahimi
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary