US funding cuts, scholarship ban deal students a double blow

Afghan students face a double blow amid restrictions on overseas scholarship opportunities by the Taliban regime and cuts to scholarships for Afghans by the United States as part of the administration of US President Donald Trump’s dismantling of its aid agency USAID.

In a series of interviews, fresh high school graduates, Afghan university undergraduates and teachers told University World News the Taliban regime has tightened its grip on the country’s higher education by suspending overseas scholarships as part of the indoctrination process said to be underway in the country’s universities.

The US government abruptly ended the USAID-funded Women’s Scholarship Endowment (WSE), a programme established in 2018 with a US$50 million endowment from USAID to Texas A&M University to create and administer WSE.

The scholarships covered tuition fees and living expenses for 120 Afghan women studying in STEM fields in Oman and Qatar, including at the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF).

The scholarships were paid out of the endowment’s interest and investments and did not rely on current US public funds. Most of these scholarships were due to continue until 2028 under an extension to the programme agreed to in 2023, according to official documents seen by University World News.

The US decision to terminate the funding was part of a broader policy shift that eliminated over 8,600 USAID and US State Department initiatives worldwide.

Students face expulsion, deportation

Following the termination of WSE, more than 80 Afghan female students in Oman, enrolled at the Middle East College in Muscat, were informed in early March their scholarships had been discontinued due to the USAID funding freeze.

A number of students told University World News that without financial support, they face expulsion and potential deportation back to Afghanistan, where the Taliban's restrictions severely limit women's access to education.

An Afghan student on a WSE scholarship studying economics in Oman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “Every day, I wonder if I’ll finish my degree or if I’ll be sent back before it even matters. We’re not asking for extra help. We’re just asking for the promises to be kept.”

Students said their ability to use their education to secure a job elsewhere in the world had been severely diminished by the threat to their education. Reduced access to international experience in turn meant they would be less equipped to compete in a globalised job market, impacting their employability and career trajectory.

Uncertainty at American University in Doha

For many years, AUAF, supported by USAID funds, was the main gateway for Afghan students to a Western-style higher education at home. The institution moved to the Qatari capital of Doha when the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021, where it remained a beacon of hope for many who were able to flee Afghanistan.

Prior to the latest cuts by the Trump administration, USAID’s WSE was helping around 200 Afghan students to study at the AUAF, all of whom are to lose this support from 30 June 2025, according to State Department sources quoted in US media. The State Department has not yet said when a final decision will be made.

US media, including National Public Radio (NPR) and the New York Times reported in early April that students had been informed that US financial support for their scholarships would soon end. NPR reported on 8 April that 208 Afghan students faced an uncertain future.

However, when contacted, AUAF in Qatar told University World News: “AUAF funding has not been cut, and there is at present no reason to expect any cuts. We currently can’t comment further on this particular issue.”

Zohar (not her real name), an Afghan student studying international relations at AUAF in Doha, told University World News that the situation had taken away the students’ “peace of mind”.

“We came here with dreams and deadlines. Now all we have are fears of these dreams shattering at any moment since the US pulled the funding.”

Her siblings back home in Kabul consider her “lucky” to have fled Taliban oppression, but in reality she finds herself in limbo, facing an uncertain future, she said.

Ban on scholarships to Russia

The uncertainty over US-funded scholarships comes as the Taliban regime in Afghanistan imposed an unannounced ban on Western scholarships, according to diplomatic sources, students and education agencies, all speaking anonymously.

According to affected students, scholarships for Afghan students to study at Russian universities were cancelled earlier this year for the second consecutive year. Around 500 Russian scholarships allocated to Afghan students were still being processed after the list of scholarship recipients was announced in May 2024.

The Russian Cultural Center in Kabul told the students that despite its negotiations with the Afghan authorities, the Taliban Ministry of Higher Education had refused to allow them to travel to Russia for study.

Some suggested it was because Russia is a “non-Islamic country”.

However, according to local media reports in Afghanistan which cite education consultancies as sources, scholarships to Islamic countries such as Pakistan and Turkey have also been halted for students applying from Afghanistan, though they are still open to Afghan students applying from third countries, including neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.

Education consultancies reportedly suggest that restrictions in place in recent years, in part due to processing difficulties after many embassies pulled out of Kabul, have only recently become a ban on overseas scholarships by the Taliban regime.

In January, as hundreds of Afghan students sat entrance exams for Pakistani universities, media reported the Afghan authorities had agreed to allow female students to pursue higher education in Pakistan as long as they were accompanied by male chaperones.

Pakistan offers fully funded scholarships to thousands of Afghans, but this year’s scholarship announcement has been removed from the official website.

Students have reportedly been caught up in the mass deportations from Pakistan of Afghan nationals in recent months, with many students going into hiding.

Although tens of thousands of undocumented Afghans have been deported from Pakistan, students and lawyers in Pakistan say police in Pakistan have also rounded up documented Afghans, such as students.

Closed doors

Kabul-based high school graduate Sulaiman Noori said he applied multiple times for scholarships to study medicine in Pakistan, Turkey and a number of European countries but received no positive response.

The Taliban Ministry has not officially commented on the issue. “Now, there is no official announcement of a ban, but what is happening in reality is that no scholarships are actually being offered to students who are based inside Afghanistan.

Even if they do manage to secure one somehow, getting clearance from the Taliban and departing becomes almost impossible,” Noori said, adding that for female students it is even worse.

Taliban higher education ministry spokesperson Abdul Hanan Azizi told the local Salam Radio earlier this year it was working on a new policy, and distribution of scholarships for study abroad will resume once it is finalised.

“Currently, nearly 441 students and 1,896 teachers and staff of public universities from Afghanistan are studying on scholarships in 56 countries. The Islamic Emirate is working on a mechanism to determine how and to which countries students should be sent. Once finalised, young people will once again have the opportunity to receive scholarships,” Azizi said.

Doubts over educational ‘upgrade’

However, a Kabul University lecturer, who wished not to be named, maintained the regime was “not serious” about upgrading the education system, but rather it wanted to place “sympathisers” and Taliban members in key positions and on scholarships abroad.

“We have been witnessing this in the past three years. They [Taliban] are rapidly removing all former and experienced teachers and administrators and replacing them with radically minded individuals inclined towards the Talibanisation of the entire education system.”

The local Pashto service of the BBC reported in 2022 that since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, about 229 professors from Afghanistan's three major universities, Kabul, Herat and Balkh, left the country for various reasons.

Most of the professors who had graduated from these three universities held masters or doctorate degrees. The highest number of lecturers — 112 of them – left Kabul University.

The Kabul University professor said international organisations and host countries must collaborate to provide alternative funding and support to ensure that Afghan students can continue their education and contribute to rebuilding Afghanistan’s future.