In brief
After the Trump administration suspended refugee admissions, Afghan students at the American University in Qatar are left anxious about returning home to a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, where the rights of women are severely restricted.
When Nilab was a student at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, she learned techniques to manage her stress, like jotting down her worries on slips of paper. This method provided her with some mental relief when the Taliban overthrew the U.S.-backed Afghan government in 2021, prohibiting women's education and forcing her to flee to Qatar in July 2023. Now, as she studies cybersecurity at the university's new campus in Doha, she is overwhelmed by mounting worries pinned to her dorm wall due to the recent suspension of U.S. foreign aid and refugee resettlement programs initiated by the Trump administration. The shutdown not only halts her hopes of reuniting with her family, who are now safe in the United States, but it also puts her future in jeopardy. “How can girls go back to Afghanistan?” Nilab reflects with deep concern. “What will happen to us? Rape, forced marriage, and death.” After the formal announcement made on January 20, her aspirations of obtaining an American-style education are overshadowed by the grim possibilities awaiting her in her home country. Nilab, now 30 and determined to secure her future, fears what it would mean to return to Afghanistan—a land where women are denied basic rights and safety. Her educational journey, which was a symbol of hope and progress, now hangs precariously in the balance as anxiety grows among her fellow students in Qatar. Together, they remain resilient, grappling with an uncertain future while facing hazards that many can barely fathom.
