U.S. State Department cancels Fulbright program for Afghan scholars

The State Department has canceled the Fulbright Foreign Student Program in Afghanistan for the 2022-23 academic year, according to a State Department spokesperson. The move leaves 140 Afghan semifinalists without access to the prestigious scholarship after almost a year of waiting. The department said it “could not offer a safe exchange experience for a new cohort of Afghan Fulbrighters at this time,” according to a State Department spokesperson. 

Fulbright provided  Afghan graduate students the opportunity to obtain a fully-funded masters for up to two years masters degree in the U.S., a dream made even more coveted  for Afghan students after the fall of Kabul in August 2021. But now that dream is over for the 140 semifinalists who had been selected for the 2022-23 cohort.

The State Department sent an email Friday night notifying the semifinalists that the program “will not go forward” citing  “significant barriers impeding our ability to provide a safe exchange experience” as the reason for suspending the program according to an email obtained by CBS News. 

Fatema Ahmadi, one of the semifinalists, was devastated when she read the email. “If they just stop this program and are not supporting Afghan scholars, it is really unfair.” 

Ahmadi says that many of her fellow semifinalists wanted to take the skills they would learn at U.S. institutions and bring it back to Afghanistan in hopes of re-building the country. “We need educated people, education is the only way we can continue our progress. It is how we want to fight to get our country back.” 

In August 2021, Ahmadi was evacuated out of Kabul and, after a journey from Kuwait to Bahrain to Wisconsin, she settled in Virginia. She was hoping to start her Fulbright this year, as she is already in the U.S., yet she still received the email notifying her of “significant barriers” that would not allow for the scholarship to continue. 

Ubaid Ullah Karimi, a semifinalist living in Kabul, was planning on getting a masters in international peace and conflict resolution before learning of the cancellation. Karimi and fellow semifinalists urge the State Department to reconsider the decision and are launching a twitter campaign with the #reviewfulbright4AFG. He believes that there were solutions to mitigate safety concerns other than canceling the program. 

“This is not a ticket out of Afghanistan, but an opportunity for an education,” said Karimi, who planned on returning to Afghanistan after his Fulbright. “They have kept us waiting. We invested in this program. They have made us promises and now they have denied us.” 

The program is still operating for the previous cohort of over 100 Afghan students who began their studies this fall. The State Department said it will restart the program “once future conditions allow for us to once again safely support Fulbright opportunities for Afghan students” according to a State Department spokesperson. 

The students were selected as semifinalists in April 2021 and are waiting for their final interviews, initially delayed by COVID-19 and then the fall of Kabul in August. When asked about the delay, a State department spokesperson said the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs was carefully assessing  “the feasibility of continuing the program” and looking into “multiple avenues  to address the serious safety and logistical challenges of bringing a new cohort of students to the United States.”

The Fulbright program was founded in 1946 to foster mutual understanding between the U.S. and other countries. 

“I think this program is really important for Afghanistan youth, they are just waiting in Afghanistan for this opportunity to come and now it’s just really disappointing,” Ahmadi said.