 A time of reawakening and resurgence in Afghanistan, years of turmoil, internal conflict and external interference put the clock back each time the country made a surge forward. At the turn of the 21st century, destiny has put Afghanistan at the threshold of a breakthrough again. Afghanistan is not alone to battle it out. India went through invasions and foreign interference in the past and as such it can amply empathize with the travels of a long-term friend. It is a partnership of history between nations bound as the two are by time-tested tradition of friendship during trauma and turbulence and in times of peace alike. Afghanistan is a mosaic of a multicultural and multi-ethnic society, a landlocked country. Its population had been put at 26.7 million according to estimates for the year 2000. The people lived in harmony and peace in normal times. India's ambassador to Afghanistan Vivek Kachu puts this in perspective. We have had close ties of friendship and cooperation since time immemorial. These ties are now being sought to be strengthened through a desire on the part of both governments and a desire that is buttressed by the peoples of both countries. In our part we are trying to cooperate with the government of Afghanistan by following the priorities, programs and policies of development which they are laying down. It is after all for the Afghan people and the Afghan authorities to decide the direction in which they wish to take Afghanistan and as friends it is our duty to assist them in this process of reconstruction. Afghanistan is a nation on the move. It's women to take part in rebuilding. The role of Afghan women deserves to be seen in a perspective. The Taliban and earlier the Mujahideen put the women fork in the abyss of backwardness. Women had been ministers and holding important positions, often though with a limited role. The rigidity of the so-called Islamic laws by extremists and ultras left them confined to their homes as if cattle. Education, health and transport are the basic needs in a society engaged in reconstruction. All this had to begin from a scratch in a country driven by inner convulsions. Professor Akbar Popol, president of Kabul University, recounts the fate of the academics during the dark period of Talibanization when a large number of academicians and professors had to leave the country for security reasons leading to closure of many faculties and departments. Twenty-three, twenty-four years of war ruined, distracted most of the things here in Afghanistan. Most of the departments here in Kabul University, because of the shortage of the materials, teaching materials, textbooks and most important of all because of the leaving of the professors from Afghanistan, because of certain security reasons, we had to suspend some of our departments until we get back the basic requirement and necessity for the standard department. That's not only true for the Sanskrit department, that's true with some other departments. My students would love to have the Urdu department. Very recently we have opened the department of Turkish origin and we have almost seven foreign departments at the Faculty of Language and Literature. Life is returning to normal in Afghanistan, even if slowly. The way to complete normality is bound to be arduous and uphill, yet it is business as usual in the bazaars of Kabul, even if the old scars will take time to heal. Restaurants and hotels are aplenty serving fast food and of course, Kabuli and Afghan delicacy. Youngsters are also taken to cricket. If things go well, Afghanistan may join other cricket playing nations. The craving for peace is all pervasive in a country that has long suffered under oppression for no fault of theirs.