Afghan students in Oman are sent after freezing USAID Trump USAID

More than 80 Afghan women who have escaped from the Taliban to get higher education in Oman now face a quick deportation back to Afghanistan, after a wide freeze of Trump administration on foreign aid programs.

Financing the US Agency for International Development (USAID), their scholarships were sharply stopped after freezing the financing ordered by President Donald Trump when he returned to the post in January.

“It was devastating,” said one BBC student, anonymously speaking, fearing repression. “Everyone was shocked and wept. We were told that we would send us within two weeks.”

Since the return of power, the Taliban imposed draconian restrictions on women, including their ban on universities.

The US assistance in the US has allowed thousands of Afghan women to study abroad or continue education online, but many of these programs are now suspended.

Trump’s freeze administration has encountered legal checkpoints, but thousands of humanitarian programs worldwide were stopped or threatened when the White House seeks to reduce billions of public expenses.

Oman students say the preparation is already underway to return them to Afghanistan, and appealed to the international community to “urgently intervene”.

The BBC saw e -mails sent by 82 students who reported to them that their scholarships were “stopped” from the stopping of the program and USAID financing.

Electronic letters – recognizing the news will be “deeply disappointing and restless” – refer to travel agreements to Afghanistan, which caused anxiety among students.

“We need immediate protection, financial assistance and resettlement opportunities to a safe country where we can continue our education,” one of the BBC said.

The USAID site contacts on the site remain offline. BBC contacted the US Department of State for Comments.

The Afghan women who are now confronted with the forced return from Oman have postgraduate and postgraduate studies within the Women’s Fund (WSE), the USAID program that began in 2018.

It provided scholarships for Afghan women to study science, technology, technology and mathematics (STEM), disciplines, prohibited talibes for women.

A little more than a week ago, students were told that their scholarships were abolished.

“It’s like everything was taken away from me,” said another BBC student. “It was the worst moment. I’m under great stress.”

These women, mostly under the age of 20, received qualifications for scholarships in 2021 before the Taliban confiscated Afghanistan. Many continued their studies at Afghan universities until December 2022, when the Taliban banned higher education for women.

After 18 months in a suspended state, they said they fled to Pakistan last September.

Then Usaid promoted its visa in Oman, where they arrived between October to November 2024.

“If we send us, we will face serious consequences. It will mean the loss of all our dreams,” the student said. “We will not be able to study, and our families can make us marry. Many of us can be at risk of our past affiliations and activity.”

The Taliban hacked women protesting for education and work, and many activists were beaten, detained and threatened.

Women in Afghanistan describe themselves as “corpses that move” as part of the regime’s fierce policy.

The Taliban government states that it is trying to resolve the issue of women’s education, but also defended the dictators of its supreme leader, saying that they were “in accordance with the Islamic Sharia law.”

“Afghanistan feels gender apartheid, and women are systematically excluded from fundamental rights, including education,” the student said.

She and her friends in Oman managed to avoid this fate, because the scholarships had to finance their education by 2028.

“When we arrived here, our sponsors ordered us not to return to Afghanistan until 2028 to rest or visit our families because it’s not safe for us. And now they tell us to go,” the student said.

Last month, White House Deputy Press Socialist Anna Kelly accused the situation with Afghan women to withdraw US troops from the country as part of the Democrats, talking about Washington: “Afghan women suffer because Joe Biden’s catastrophic removal allowed the Taliban.

The decision to reduce US financing came under the Trump administration and was implemented by the government’s government efficiency Elon Musk.

And these women face the gloomy future, urgently seeking the life -saving circle before the time is over.

Additional reporting Aakriti Thapar