The acting Minister of Higher Education Neda Mohammad Nadim said that 450 lecturers have returned to the country following the completion of their master's and doctorate programs abroad.

Speaking at a gathering of university lecturers attended by the Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs, Nadim reaffirmed the commitment of his department to advanced higher education in the country.

Nadim said that efforts have been made over the last two months toward initiating master's and doctorate programs across diverse disciplines.

He said 350 other instructors have also been sent abroad for education programs.

“More than 450 instructors who have gone to masters degree education programs abroad have returned to the country,” Nadim said.

Speaking to the same gathering, the political deputy of the Prime Minister, Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, said that universities were previously run through offers of embassies, and that many academic areas were being used for politics.

“Some will conduct their expertise in the medical field and some will do it in engineering, we don’t oppose it,” he said.

Meanwhile, the instructors who returned to the country urged the Islamic Emirate to pay their salaries while they were studying abroad.

“Some of our salaries have remained unpaid for the past two-years. It has been two-years that we have been waiting. It has been two years since the Islamic Emirate came to power, but our salaries have not been paid,” said Wahidullah Shamal, university instructor.

“They have not paid the salaries for less than a year. We are ready. It has been two years since the Islamic Emirate came to power, but no one has paid anything,” said Hedayatullah, an instructor of Takhar University.

But the Ministry of Higher Education pledged that it will pay the salaries of the instructors and reclaim their lands grabbed by other individuals.