The fall of the popular Afghanistan Government to Taliban has adversely affected the ongoing projects that were being taken up in cooperation with the IIT-ISM.
It is likely that this session not a single Afghan student would be admitted to this institute due to the unrest there though the institute has received application from selected Afghan students that was sent through the Ministry of Higher Education of the ousted Afghan Government.
Prof Dhiraj Kumar former dean of international relations of IIT-ISM while talking to Pioneer said, ‘’The situation there is not conducive thus it’s not possible for us to get into contact with the officials for further action. Besides, no sponsorship was available for those who have applied for the BE degree”.
“The situation has also affected the proposed setting of Afghan School of Mines of which the IIT-ISM was the main resource provider as per the agreement. This Rs 300 crore project, though sponsored by the Government of India IIT-ISM has prepared a detailed project report (DPR) for the same after a team of teachers and officials of the institute had visited there,” Prof Dhiraj said.
The aim was to build an institute that would be helpful for the mining industry there. We had trained more than 50 students, both undergraduate and postgraduates and some also obtained PhD from here but after the current situation we are not aware where they are now.
Owing to the outbreak of Covid several students of different countries, including some from Afghanistan, were staying on campus. Those were sent to respective countries after the situation had improved after the first phase.
“We are attempting to contact them to get the well-being of our alumni,” Prof Kumar said.