The Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) on Monday announced Usmon Toshev from Uzbekistan had been appointed as the new head coach of the national football team.

Toshev, who has signed a one-year contract, succeeds Ashley Michael Westwood, the English coach who stepped down in August. 

Toshev has previously served as the head coach of Tajikistan.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Toshev said he would focus on key issues including team cohesion, talent identification programs, and organizing training camps inside and outside Afghanistan.

He said his goal is to strengthen the position of the Afghanistan national football team on both regional and global levels.

Toshev graduated from Bukhara University in 1987 with a degree in sports education. Between 1988 and 1999 Toshev played for numerous clubs, both in Uzbekistan and abroad - in Russia, Hungary and Greece. 

In 1994 Toshev made two appearances for the Uzbekistan national team, in matches against Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

He retired from playing football in 1999 but immediately went on to coach teams. 

In 2000 he was appointed head coach of Bukhara; a post he held until 2008. 

In 2006 he also coached the national team for a while, under Russian coach Valery Nepomnyashchy. 

In 2009–2011 he was the head coach of another Uzbek club, Spartak Tashkent before moving on to Nasaf. In 2013, he coached Spartak Bukhara.

In 2014 and 2015 he was head coach of Afghanistan’s De Maiwand Atalan club before returning to Uzbekistan. 

He has since coached Uzbekisan’s U16 team, Afghanistan’s Toofan Harrirud and in November 2018 he was appointed manager of the Tajikistan national under-23 football team and head coach of Tajikistan’s national team.

Kandahar authorities have started the construction of 20 new school buildings in the southern Afghan province.

According to officials, these schools will be built with the financial assistance of the UN agency for children, UNICEF, at a cost of 178 million afghanis ($2.7 million).

With the completion of the construction of these schools, education will be provided for 2,000 children.

“About 20 new schools will be built in 11 districts of Kandahar. These schools will have the capacity to hold 2,000 students and will be built in six months,” said Ikram Shah Asim, deputy director of education in Kandahar.

Meanwhile, Abdulsalam Baryaal, director of Kandahar's economy, said: "All the necessities of these schools, such as six classrooms, surrounding walls, solar power system, ablution places and administrative rooms have been considered."

Local residents have welcomed the project in the province and called for more development initiatives.

Ata Mohammad, a resident of Kandahar, says: "Currently, children are roaming around and disturbing us. We are happy that children will study and learn to read and write from now on."

In the past, school buildings could not be built in many of Kandahar districts due to war and insecurity. Students used to study in the open air or in mosques.

Afghanistan’s former president Hamid Karzai on Monday posted a recent speech of his to X stating that education and knowledge is vital for society and has resulted in the progress and development we see in the world today.

Addressing last month’s 38th International Islamic Unity Conference via video link, Karzai said: “Education and knowledge, beyond being considered vital for human society, are emphasized by our religion and religious leaders.

“Undoubtedly, the progress and development we see in the world today are the results of education and knowledge. Neglecting education is a clear sign of ignorance about the complexities of modern humans and their necessities,” he said.

He went on to state that “our expectation is that through Islamic cooperation, greater attention will be paid to the necessity of education and we should agree that without modern sciences, we will not be able to solve basic problems in various areas of life.”

Karzai, who is a proponent of education, has repeatedly called for girls and women to be allowed to return to school and university in Afghanistan.

The 38th Islamic Unity Conference was held in Tehran last month.