In a sign of gradual return to normality, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul recently experienced two historic events: the opening of an American Information Resource Center and the commencement of limited visa services. Both services had ceased in 1979 following the murder of the U.S. ambassador in Kabul and subsequent deterioration in diplomatic relations between the United States and Afghanistan.

On April 5, U.S. Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann, along with Afghan Minister of Information and Culture Abdul Karim Khuram, inaugurated the AIRC. The new facility is inside the recently renovated embassy building, which Neumann’s father, Ambassador Robert G. Neumann, dedicated in 1967. The center will serve Afghan audiences who want to gain a better understanding of U.S. culture, society and institutions. It offers books, research services, a video collection, satellite TV and high-speed Internet access.

"This Information Resource Center represents one way of looking beyond war and crisis," Ambassador Neumann said, "to focus on the things that bring people together —the exchange of information, the chance to talk about the issues that mean something to all of us."

Just a few weeks later, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul’s Consular section inaugurated the first stage in expanded nonimmigrant visa services, conducting the first NIV interviews at post since 1979. The accomplishment was the culmination of months of coordinated effort by the Consular, Regional Security, Management, Information Systems and Facilities Maintenance offices. Support from Washington was also essential.

Newly arrived Ambassador William B. Wood greeted a group of eight NIV applicants, all of them Paktika Province government or tribal representatives who are participating in a special International Visitor Program organized by the embassy’s Public Affairs section and Provincial Reconstruction Team Sharana’s political officer, Timm Timmons, and political assistant Rashid Hassanpoor.