Nooristan Foundation Receives Support from Hamed Wardak

The Nooristan Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. that provides support for charitable and educational projects in rural areas of Afghanistan. Each spring, they host an annual gala. The gala this year, entitled “An Evening of Hope to Benefit Afghanistan” will take place at the residence of His Excellency the Ambassador of France Pierre Vimont in Washington, D.C.

In a show of support, Hamed Wardak, has just contributed $20,000 and has become a Gold Sponsor of the Nooristan Foundation’s Gala. His support will help a village school and a midwife training program, while also helping the livelihoods of displaced people in three different areas of the country.

Hamed Wardak and Afghan Cricket

Hamed Wardak is someone who is always looking towards improving the quality of life for the people of Afghanistan. As such, any venture that supports education for its youth, would be a welcome one. Currently, the region’s cricket team is selling cricket jerseys through a website which is great. But what is interesting to a man like Hamed Wardak is that the money that will be raised from the sale of these jerseys is going towards constructing a school in the village of each cricket player. The origins behind this idea came from Mohamed Nabi, one of the team’s star players,“an all rounder who can bat consecutive 6’s.” Clearly therefore, as well as being great on the field, Nabi, like Wardak, is trying to find ways to better the lives of the Afghan people, from an early age, via a good education.

Hamed Wardak and Education

Hamed Wardak is also extremely supportive of ventures which work towards the betterment of people’s lives in Afghanistan, might well have something in common with the cricket’s team’s ex-middle order batsman. Raees Ahmadza, is, “committed to education for boys and girls. He is hoping to build a school for girls, as there currently isn’t one, as well as develop the girls cricket team in his village.”

Hamed Wardak and Merrill Lynch

When he first began what has now become a very successful business career, Hamed Wardak worked at Merrill Lynch in different states of America. At the time, Wardak was given multi-million dollar assignments at the company. Today, Merrill Lynch enjoys success not just as a business, but also working with other organizations to try to make advancements in important areas such as health care. For example, the company recently is due to hold their Health Care Conference, with participants such as CONMED Corporation. This Corporation works with surgical devices within the medical technology area.

Wardak and Health Care

Someone like Hamed Wardak would be only too pleased with exciting new projects like this. Such a joint venture between a high-end financial management company and a medical tech company can only be beneficial to everyone involved.

Afghanistan-American Meeting

On Tuesday, May 11th, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton opened key talks with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai at the White House. While the two nations have had recent disputes, Clinton emphasized that the United States is committed to helping Afghanistan and that they will continue to support Afghanistan long after U.S. combat troops have withdrawn from the region. This is certainly positive news for Afghan-American leaders like Hamed Wardak and the many others who have been pressing for improved relations between the two nations.

President Obama is expected to meet with President Karzai today, Wednesday, May 12th, to continue the talks.

A More Peaceful Secure Afghanistan

Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, recently urged the Taliban to bid farewell to their weapons. Instead, he wants instead to encourage them to talk about their grievances. Karzai was out visiting a particularly violent northern province, when he made the statement. He also committed to his troops remaining in the republic throughout the duration of the fighting, in another effort to establish peace.

At a Kunduz province, Hamid Karzai pushed the matter further. He appealed to all such Taliban rebels to stop their violence and begin standing by Afghanistan’s Constitution.

Karzai is certainly not alone in his desire to create peace. Individuals such as Hamed Wardak, who has clearly learnt lessons from his father Abdul Rahim Wardak (the republic’s Defense Minister), also dreams of a safer Afghanistan.

Afghan President Talks with Insurgent Group

In recent Afghan news, President Hamid Karzai held talks in Kabul this week with representatives of one of the key insurgent groups that are battling his government. The president’s efforst are to push for an eventual reconciliation with the many warring Afghan factions.

While the United States, and many Afghan groups remain wary of these talks, they clearly show that Karzai is pressing ahead with his reconciliation efforts.

These talks involved a small delegation from the Hezb-i-Islami faction who are loyal to former majaheddin comannder Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The Unites States classifies this group as a terrorist entity and many Afghans regard them as being responsible for large-scale human rights violations.

Name of Organization, Fedayeen-e-Sol, Significant Says Wardak

The organization begun by Hamed Wardak, Fedayeen-e-Sol, chose its name very carefully. The word “fedayeen” is usually associated with militants and they purposefully used this wording in order to co-op Islamic names and symbols. The word “fedayeen” is also associated with jihad in terms of personal or collective struggle to do good.

As Hamed Wardak explains, "Our point is to cleanse these names from [their association with] Islamic radicals. We don't want to go in a rabid secularist direction, we want to say we're comfortable with Islam, these Islamic ideals don't belong to you [radicals]."

Poll Results for Successful U.S./NATO Outcome

The Campaign for a U.S. – Afghanistan Partnership, where Hamed Wardak is a founding vice-president, conducted a poll about the U.S. and NATO outcomes in Afghanistan. 56% of respondents said that an understanding of the ideology of the Afghan people is the most important factor for the success of the U.S./NATO alliance.

As Hamed Wardak explains, “These survey results underscore people who are closest to these issues on the ground know that war with radical Taliban and Al Qaeda is one that is based on religious ideology.”

He goes on to explain that, according to Wardak, the results also show that the United States needs to do a better job of “distinguishing between traditional Afghan Muslims and radical Salafi-Taliban figures, and (must) support traditional Muslims while fighting radicalism."

Recent Activities at the AACC

The Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce has been very busy as of late, holding important conferences and engaging in vital dialogues. The Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce, with founding vice-president Hamed Wardak and many others, is a leading organization that works to bring together U.S. and Afghan business, investment and trade ties. They advocate for a free market economy in Afghanistan and they work to strengthen U.S.-Afghan economic ties.

In recent news, the AACC US-Afghanistan Business Matchmaking 2009 was held late last year and was a great success. They had a large turnout and helped to make known business and investment opportunities in Afghanistan and to meet representatives of Afghan companies that are based in Dubai and in Afghanistan. It also facilitated the networking of key private sector, financial and government contacts.

Meeting Omar Olumee

Omar Olumee sits on the board for the Campaign for a US-Afghanistan Partnership (CUSAP) along with Hamed Wardak and Assad A. Mattin. This board, and the organization in general, aims to help Afghanistan to become a strong, prosperous nation with the continued support of the United States.

As a founding member of CUSAP and an Afghan-American, Omar Olumee is also a Senior Consultant on the Business Systems Integration team in Deloitte & Touche’s Public Services Business Unit.

He has a B.A. from George Mason University in International Studies and a Masters in Information Technology from Virginia Tech.

Hamed Wardak Promotes Peace in Afghanistan

In addition to promoting support for Afghanistan by the United States, CUSAP also believes the role of Pakistan is a crucial piece in the puzzle of achieving peace and security in Afghanistan. Hamed Wardak of CUSAP believe that Pakistan can and should play a more positive role in determining the future condition of Afghanistan.

CUSAP wants all three countries, Pakistan, the United States and Afghanistan to support, promote and encourage Afghan independence, security and prosperity, without repeating the mistakes of the recent past which helped bring Afghanistan to its current state of chaos and woe.

Now is the unique time, according to Hamed Wardak of the CUSAP, to take advantage of this opportunity to support new leadership which will work toward the path of sustainable security, peace and prosperity in Afghanistan, after many years without.

Support for Afghanistan Helps U.S., Too

Hamed Wardak is on the board of CUSAP, the Campaign for a U.S.-Afghanistan Partnership, an organization helping to promote and encourage continued U.S. support for Afghanistan as it brings itself up and out of the oppression of exerted on them by the Soviet Union and after them, the Taliban.

CUSAP believes that the same forces that motivated the United States to support Afghanistan after 2001 are still extant. The U.S. felt it necessary to stem the tide of international jihad and to deny safe haven to al Qaeda and the Taliban. In this way the ability of jihadists to launch terrorist attacks on the United Sates and its allies is severely restricted.

In order to achieve long term security and development of Afghanistan, Hamed Wardak and the CUSAP believe it is absolutely necessary for the United States to continue its support of Afghanistan and its people.

Hamed Wardak of CUSAP Promotes Good Relations

The Campaign for a U.S. Afghanistan Partnership, CUSAP, is dedicated to promoting U.S. support of the development of a strong and prospering Afghanistan. U.S.-Afghanistan citizens constitute membership of CUSAP, and the board members include, Milt Bearden, Assad A. Mattin, Omar Olumee, and Hamed Wardak.

Part of CUSAP’s mandate is to educate the public so that they realize that Afghanistan is not a repeat of Vietnam, and is not a hopeless case. Until the brutal takeover of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union Afghanistan was a stable country. With the help and support of the United States, Afghanistan was able to liberate itself from the yoke of Soviet oppression, but not before over one million Afghanis had been killed.

From the time the Soviets left the Taliban and al Qaeda led the Afghan people into many more years of disastrous tyranny; until, in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 catastrophe, the United States once again intervened and helped liberate Afghanistan from the clasp of oppression.

Celebrating Afghan Heritage is Wardak Hamed’s Vision

Hamed Wardak is dreaming of the day when Afghans, in their own country, can enjoy the beauty and richness of their culture without fear of persecution. In celebration of Afghanistan’s proud past, and hope for a free and vibrant future,Hamed Wardak was a sponsor of the recent exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. entitled, "Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul."

On display were 228 objects representing thousands of years and numerous cultural heritages which is what Afghanistan is all about. All these pieces were kept safely hidden in storage during the turbulent 25 years of recent Afghan history, and are finally on display in a symbolic showing of the freedom the Afghan people so yearn for.

Hamed Wardak Gives Back to the Community

Believing that it is incumbent on successful people who are living their dreams to give back generously to the community, Hamed Wardak, began the Community Outreach Program, which recently sponsored and supported the art exhibit, “Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures for the National Museum, Kabul.”

Hamed Wardak is awaiting the day when all Afghans can enjoy the basic freedoms of access to education, culture, and artistic and intellectual heritage that is every Afghans inheritance.

Hamed Wardak Offers Global Logistical Solutions

Hamed Wardak is the Chairman of a globally operated company offering professional services for a variety of projects including logistics and security throughout Southwest Asia.

Wardak’s vision is to provide on-the-ground professional service solutions especially in difficult locations around the world. They can provide logistics and project management support.

Hamed Wardak founds the AACC

The ever busy Hamed Wardak has founded the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce (AACC) where he serves as vice-president. The AACC facilitates American-Afghanistan economic transactions, business relationships, investment and trade ties. The AACC advocates a free open market economy in Afghanistan, and one of its prime goals is to fortify and bolster United States -Afghanistan economic relations. The AACC offers its members a wide range of programs that aim to introduce US businesses and financial leaders to the many opportunities available in the fledgling economy and emerging markets of Afghanistan.

Hamed Wardak is the son of Afghanistan’s Minister of Defense, Abdul Rahim Wardak. Wardak spends his time between Kabul, where he was born, and Washington (he grew up in the U.S. and Pakistan)..

Hamed Wardak: Businessman and Community Leader

Hamed Wardak is a highly successful businessman as well as an involved citizen on behalf of fellow expatriots of his country of origin, Afghanistan.

Mr. Wardak is currently the President of the successful company National Construction and Logistics. He was the managing director, partner and director of international operations for Technolgist Inc.

He is a founding vice chairman of the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce and the founder and president of Sacrificers for Peace.