Uncertainty Looms for Afghan Students Abroad Amid U.S. Policy Changes

Afghan students at the American University in Qatar face an uncertain and precarious future as U.S. policies threaten to cut off their educational and refugee opportunities, compelling fears of returning to a repressive regime.

In a small dorm room in Doha, Nilab, a 30-year-old student from Afghanistan, struggles to focus on her studies at the American University of Afghanistan, now operating in exile. She pins slips of paper detailing her worries on her wall—a coping mechanism learned during a seminar in Kabul—to manage her anxiety amid growing uncertainty. Since the Taliban's takeover in 2021, women in Afghanistan have faced severe restrictions on education and personal freedoms, and Nilab fled to Qatar in July 2023 with the hope of continuing her education. However, her dreams were shattered when President Trump signed an executive order on January 20 suspending refugee resettlement, effectively voiding the promised asylum for her and many of her classmates.

With U.S. foreign aid and refugee admissions critically halted, Nilab fears being forced back to a country where she envisions dire consequences—rape, forced marriage, and social ostracization. “How can girls go back to Afghanistan?” she asks, contemplating the demise of her vibrant academic life and the rights she has fought so hard to maintain. Peering into an unsettling future, Nilab exemplifies the plight facing numerous Afghan students caught in a political crossfire, their hopes of reuniting with family members who have fled and building new lives in a safe environment increasingly slipping away.