A group of more than 80 Afghan women who fled the Taliban regime to study in Oman say they are at risk of imminent deportation to Afghanistan after their U.S.-funded scholarship was canceled as part of the Trump administration’s cuts to foreign aid.
The female students received an email on Feb. 28 informing them that the scholarship program administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development at the Middle East College of Oman had been terminated along with thousands of other foreign aid initiatives, according to the email obtained by NBC News.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The plight of the Afghan students was first reported by the BBC.
In a letter to aid groups, the Afghan women are appealing for urgent help to allow them to continue their studies abroad and avoid returning to a country where, they say, they will face certain persecution and life-threatening risks.
“The situation is catastrophic,” the letter says. “Being sent back to Afghanistan would mean the permanent loss of our education and exposure to severe risks, including oppression, insecurity, and a future without opportunities. This is a life-or-death situation for many of us.”
The Afghan students were pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in Oman under the Women’s Scholarship Endowment, one of numerous programs eliminated in the Trump administration’s effort to drastically scale back USAID.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that 83% of USAID programs had been canceled after a six-week review and that the remaining programs would be merged into the State Department.
“Please don’t let our dreams be shattered and the Taliban decide our fate,” the students’ letter reads. “We have fought very hard to get out of their hands, we won’t be living anymore if we have to go back to Afghanistan.”
The program for female scholars was launched in 2019 with a $50 million endowment from USAID, according to Brian Le, deputy legislative director of With Honor, a nonprofit group that works with veterans in Congress from both parties on bipartisan initiatives. Interest from the endowment has covered the cost of the program, which was administered by USAID, without requiring additional annual funding from the U.S. government, Le said.
Nonprofit groups are in discussions with the government of Oman to try to resolve the situation, he said.
“What we’re trying to avoid is their return to Afghanistan, which would functionally amount to a death sentence for these women who have been aided by the United States in pursuing higher education opportunities,” Le said.
While the letter from the Afghan students said 83 women were affected, Le said it now appears more than 120 Afghans had their scholarship funding cut off.
Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan, they have reimposed draconian restrictions on women, including banning them from secondary school and higher education, prohibiting them from most employment and limiting their freedom of speech and movement, according to human rights groups.
Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., said the elimination of the scholarship program was “shameful” and called on the Trump administration to reverse course.
“The Trump administration thinks it’s politically advantageous to villainize USAID, but Americans need to realize that behind the cancelled contracts and mass layoffs are innocent lives now put at risk,” he said in an email.
“In this case, these bright young women with the world ahead of them could receive what could amount to a death sentence in a matter of days — simply because they were relying on a US-funded scholarship to get their education abroad.”
