KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Linda Norgrove Foundation, a Scottish charity, has helped 19 Afghan girls, all medical students, travel to Scotland to continue their education.
As reported by Scottish STV News, the Afghan girls traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan, to process their visas before flying to Scotland on Monday, August 19.
The foundation, established in memory of Scottish aid worker Linda Norgrove, who was kidnapped in Afghanistan and died during a rescue operation, has initiated and supported the entire process.
“Some students were emotional as they arrived at Edinburgh Airport on Monday, where they were met by John and Lorna Norgrove – the parents of Scottish aid worker Linda Norgrove, who died in Afghanistan in 2010,” the news agency said.
“The charity set up in her honour, the Linda Norgrove Foundation, has worked with both the Scottish and UK governments to bring the 19 young women to the UK so they can complete their courses,” it added.
Linda Norgrove worked in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2008 as a UN employee. In 2010, she served as the regional director for a USAID project, DAI, in eastern Nangarhar province, focusing on job creation and strengthening local economies in unstable and vulnerable areas.
Linda, who was 36 at the time, was kidnapped in northeastern Kunar province near the Pakistan border in September 2010 and died a month later during a failed rescue attempt by U.S. forces.
According to the report, the foundation covered all costs for transporting the Afghan girls to Scotland, with expenses totaling at least £60,000.
The news outlet quoted Linda Norgrove’s parents expressing their joy in supporting the girls, who are deprived of basic rights in their home country, to continue their education in Scotland.
“We’re all delighted to have finally succeeded after so much frustration,” said Mr. Norgrove, Linda’s father. “Finally these 19 incredibly talented young women get their future back with the opportunity of a tremendous education and a career. The alternative for them in Afghanistan wasn’t good.”
He thanked those who supported the initiative, including the Scottish government, which waived the visa fee required for all international students seeking student visas.
Meanwhile, the Afghan girls expressed their gratitude to the foundation and everyone who assisted them, noting that they provided an opportunity that was unattainable under the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“We were supposed to finish the second semester of medical school at university, but suddenly the Taliban announced that girls could no longer attend. After that, there was no school, university, or workplace where I could study or work,” Zahra Hussaini, one of the girls, told the news outlets.
“I didn’t want to be a girl. They gave us the feeling that being a girl is some kind of crime. if I was a boy, I wouldn’t experience this condition,” she added.
Under three years of Taliban rule, Afghanistan has become one of the most repressive countries for women and girls. The regime has imposed severe restrictions on their movements, denying them access to education, employment, social mobility, and other fundamental freedoms.
UN experts, rights groups, and activists all say that the Taliban’s oppression of women and girls amounts to a system of apartheid, designed to deliberately subjugate them based solely on their gender.
