KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The United States is terminating funding for a scholarship program that has supported 208 Afghan women, leaving students and program organizers uncertain about their futures.
Launched in 2018, the program was designed to offer higher education opportunities for women, supported by a $50 million endowment from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to the Texas A&M University Foundation.
According to National Public Radio (NPR), around 120 students have been studying in person in Qatar and Oman, while dozens more have remained in Afghanistan, taking part in online courses offered by the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF). The program covered all of the students’ educational expenses.
Initially, USAID assured students that funding would continue until June 2025. But on April 5, the agency sent an email notifying recipients that the funding was being terminated immediately, following a review that found the award to be “inconsistent with the Administration’s priorities.”
US officials told NPR that the $50 million core fund remains untouched and that the program has been operating using interest generated by the investment. “It does not cost the US taxpayer one penny,” one official said. “All we need is a time extension through 2030.”
The sudden halt has left students in limbo. One student, identified only as R.K. for security reasons, told NPR she had completed 49 of the 120 required credits and was expecting to graduate in 2026.
“This scholarship meant everything to me. It was like a light in the darkest days of my life,” she said. “After the fall of Kabul, this program was my biggest hope for the future.”
“I am depressed and lost. I do not know what will happen to me and my classmates. All my hard work, sacrifices, and my dreams will be gone. And all this makes me wonder—why won’t the authorities of the world allow Afghan girls to study?” she added.
Program organizers have urged USAID to continue funding at least until the end of the current semester, or ideally through to 2030, to allow enrolled students to graduate.
The decision has drawn criticism from rights groups. Sahar Fetrat, a researcher with Human Rights Watch’s Women’s Rights Division, said the move strips away one of the last remaining educational lifelines for Afghan women.
“Girls in Afghanistan have already endured extreme restrictions and bans on their education over the last four years,” she said. “These programs were the last remaining loopholes for girls and women seeking higher education.”
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban has barred girls from secondary school and women from universities, severely curtailing access to education for women and girls across Afghanistan.
Online and international scholarship programs have since become the only remaining avenues for Afghan women pursuing education—avenues that now appear increasingly fragile.
