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Casablanca – Since the Taliban takeover in August last year, Afghan students’ lives and educational futures are in increasing danger despite earlier US plans to have Afghan students complete their studies in Morocco, Kyrgyzstan, and Lebanon.
Since the Taliban published a picture of themselves at the entrance of the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), claiming that it was “where America educated infidel ‘wolves’ to poison Muslim minds,” hundreds of students remain trapped in Kabul, fearing for their safety.
When US soldiers departed Afghanistan in August 2021, hundreds of Afghans were enrolled at US-funded colleges, the majority female and awarded scholarships.
The US intended to assist Afghans in obtaining a high-quality education, whether in their home country or abroad, in other countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, and Morocco.
The AUAF, founded in 2006 as the country’s first private university, provides high-quality, American-style liberal arts education to Afghans and is directly supported by the US, making it an obvious target for the Taliban.
In August 2016, Taliban operatives stormed AUAF’s campus, murdering at least 13 students and staff members and injuring another 30. During the same year, the extremist group abducted two of the university’s professors, one American and the other Australian, and held them captive for three years.
After seizing Kabul in August last year, Taliban insurgents took over the campus once again, endangering students’ lives and jeopardizing their futures.
Some of the students were able to escape. Some are still in Afghanistan, where they worry their educational links to the US may put them in danger. Others have fled to colleges in foreign countries, unclear where they will go after graduation.
Despite the university’s efforts to protect its students, many face real danger following the Taliban takeover, both in terms of their physical safety and their future prospects.
