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dr. ahmad yusef nuristani in december 2009 sayed hussein anwari daud shah saba afghanistan 200px governor of herat province , afghanistan january 18 , 2009 nuristani in december 2009-cropped . jpg ahmad yusuf nuristani
 ahmad yusuf nuristani
ahmad yusuf nuristani

dr. ahmad yusuf nuristani is a well-known and highly respected politician in afghanistan .
dr. nuristani played an important role in the resistance against the russian invasion of afghanistan.he was the spokesperson for president hamid karzai , and chief of presidential media , office of the president , during the interim administration .
subsequently , he was appointed as a minister of irrigation , water resources , and environment during the transitional period of afghan government .
responsible for planning and policy development , implementation , and oversight of ministry 's budget/spending ; managed rehabilitation projects relating to the repair of old and damaged irrigation systems , and the design of over 1200 small and medium-sized irrigation canals during tenure as minister ; paved the way for the completion of large irrigation systems which were left incomplete due to the war such as the kajaki dam , salma dam , and kunduz and khan abad irrigation projects ; addressed and mitigated many human resource challenges in terms of limited trained professionals for executing projects .
he secured funding for training from the asian development bank and from usaid , canadian cida , and gtz and kfw germany in order to repair damaged reservoirs ; raised funds for various development projects by securing grants reaching over $ 12 million from the world bank -- enabling feasibility studies of major irrigation projects ensured training of ministry staff in their respective fields and particularly in procurement procedures acceptable to international organizations .
from 2005 to 2008 dr. nuristani was the 1st deputy defense minister , government of afghanistan.he assisted minister of defense in policy development and implementation in relation to the afghan national army ; provided oversight of the ministries budget/spending ; facilitated training and equipping of the afghan national army with help of international forces , particularly the united states of america ; participated in the strategic partnership discussion between afghanistan and the united states and many other nato-sponsored meetings in various european capitals ; provided oversight and management of contracts established between the ministry and the us government in the development of military barracks and for obtaining necessary logistical supplies ; involved in long-term education of young prospective afghan military officers ; established an intensive one-year professional command training program for high-ranking military officers at the us army war college in carlisle , pennsylvania ; played a major role in the repair and equipping the 400-bed military hospital in kabul city ; responsible for overseeing all ministry of defense-owned property in afghanistan ; served as acting defense minister during the defense minister 's absence .
