The U.S. Agency for International Development has partnered with the Afghan Government and other private donors to establish the private American University of Afghanistan set to open in 2006. Targeting 1,100 undergraduates from Afghanistan and neighboring countries, the university will offer programs in management, liberal arts, and communications, all taught in English. Additionally, President Karzai has emphasized that educational development is crucial to national development.
The growth has been possible in part because Afghan leaders realized that the country’s public universities, decimated by years of war, couldn’t meet the demand for seats. So in 2006 they legalized private higher education.