West Lafayette — A Purdue University program is working to boost education and training in Afghanistan by sending faculty to the war-torn country and bringing Afghan scholars to Indiana for graduate studies.

A dozen instructors from Afghan universities are receiving master’s degrees through the program, part of a collaboration with Kabul University to reinvigorate its agriculture program.

Purdue Professor Kevin McNamara said agriculture is the key to economic growth and political stability in Afghanistan, where up to 85 percent of available work is in agriculture.

Four Purdue staff members are on assignment in the country, while 12 instructors from Afghanistan are studying agronomy, agricultural economics, food science and English at Purdue.

The program also teaches National Guard troops to develop crop and livestock production programs.

“The critical thing to invest in is people, the teachers,” McNamara said.