USAID cuts might be ‘loss of life sentence’ for Afghan girls finding out overseas
A bunch of greater than 80 Afghan girls who fled the Taliban regime to review in Oman say they’re susceptible to imminent deportation to Afghanistan after their U.S.-funded scholarship was canceled as a part of the Trump administration’s cuts to international support.
The feminine college students obtained an electronic mail on Feb. 28 informing them that the scholarship program administered by the U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth on the Center East Faculty of Oman had been terminated together with 1000’s of different international support initiatives, in accordance with the e-mail obtained by NBC Information.
The State Division didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. The plight of the Afghan college students was first reported by the BBC.
In a letter to assist teams, the Afghan girls are interesting for pressing assist to permit them to proceed their research overseas and keep away from returning to a rustic the place, they are saying, they may face sure persecution and life-threatening dangers.
“The state of affairs is catastrophic,” the letter says. “Being despatched again to Afghanistan would imply the everlasting lack of our training and publicity to extreme dangers, together with oppression, insecurity, and a future with out alternatives. It is a life-or-death state of affairs for many people.”
The Afghan college students have been pursuing undergraduate and graduate levels in Oman beneath the Ladies’s Scholarship Endowment, one among quite a few packages eradicated within the Trump administration’s effort to drastically cut back USAID.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned Monday that 83% of USAID packages had been canceled after a six-week overview and that the remaining packages could be merged into the State Division.
“Please don’t let our desires be shattered and the Taliban determine our destiny,” the scholars’ letter reads. “We now have fought very onerous to get out of their fingers, we received’t be dwelling anymore if we’ve got to return to Afghanistan.”
This system for feminine students was launched in 2019 with a $50 million endowment from USAID, in accordance with Brian Le, deputy legislative director of With Honor, a nonprofit group that works with veterans in Congress from each events on bipartisan initiatives. Curiosity from the endowment has lined the price of this system, which was administered by USAID, with out requiring further annual funding from the U.S. authorities, Le mentioned.
Nonprofit teams are in discussions with the federal government of Oman to attempt to resolve the state of affairs, he mentioned.
“What we’re making an attempt to keep away from is their return to Afghanistan, which might functionally quantity to a loss of life sentence for these girls who’ve been aided by america in pursuing greater training alternatives,” Le mentioned.
Whereas the letter from the Afghan college students mentioned 83 girls have been affected, Le mentioned it now seems greater than 120 Afghans had their scholarship funding minimize off.
Because the Taliban returned to energy in 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan, they’ve reimposed draconian restrictions on girls, together with banning them from secondary college and better training, prohibiting them from most employment and limiting their freedom of speech and motion, in accordance with human rights teams.
Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., mentioned the elimination of the scholarship program was “shameful” and known as on the Trump administration to reverse course.
“The Trump administration thinks it’s politically advantageous to villainize USAID, however People want to appreciate that behind the cancelled contracts and mass layoffs are harmless lives now put in danger,” he mentioned in an electronic mail.
“On this case, these vibrant younger girls with the world forward of them might obtain what might quantity to a loss of life sentence in a matter of days — just because they have been counting on a US-funded scholarship to get their training overseas.”
