In keeping with their longstanding ban on education for women and girls, Taliban authorities in Afghanistan stopped a group of aspirational female students from boarding a plane to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates where they were to take up fully funded scholarships to pursue university studies.
Emirati philanthropist and businessman Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, who offered to take care of all the expenses for the students’ stay and study at the University of Dubai, said in a video message that 100 girls sponsored by him had not been allowed to board the plane to Dubai at Kabul.
“I’m unable to express the disappointment I feel now as the Afghan female students, whom I had provided an educational scholarship, were unfortunately unable to reach Dubai airport this morning to continue their study due to Taliban’s interference,” Al Habtoor said via Twitter (currently rebranding to X) on Wednesday 23 August.
Months of efforts
“We’ve been eagerly anticipating this day for a while; after months of unceasing efforts among @AlHabtoorGroup’s team members and I to secure university admissions, accommodations, transportation, health insurance and an array of comprehensive services aimed at ensuring the utmost comfort and safety for the female students, our aspirations were crushed,” he added.
“The authorities in Afghanistan, without justification, prevented their departure, unjustly curtailing their freedom.”
Amid heavily censored mainstream media in Afghanistan, within hours of his tweet, social media platforms were flooded with secretly captured blurry images of the girls being held at the departure lounge of Kabul International Airport by armed Taliban members.
“Around 8am we received the uncomfortable news that the 100 Afghan women can’t come to Dubai,” Al Habtoor said via Twitter, while requesting all involved parties to step in quickly to help rescue and assist the students.
“All humans have the right to receive education. It is important that the Taliban free them. I hope they will allow them to come to Dubai as soon as possible,” he said.
Male guardian requirement
The voice of an evidently frightened female student can be heard in Al Habtoor’s video-tweet saying: “Right now, we are in the airport but unfortunately the government did not allow us to fly to Dubai … they [Taliban authorities] saw the student visa and the ticket, but did not allow us … some were barred from travelling despite being accompanied by mahram [a male guardian] … I do not know what to do. Please help us. We are so concerned.”
The University of Dubai was contacted for comment, but no information was shared about the criteria and details of the scholarships offered to the Afghan girls.
The Al Habtoor Group earlier said the students who were to leave Kabul had been carefully selected by the University of Dubai “after receiving a huge number of applications”, adding they were selected according to the specific majors available.
Last year, Taliban officials refused to allow Afghan women and girls without a male family escort to cross into Iran and Pakistan for studies, whether travelling by road or air.
In August 2022 some 80 female students of the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), which was closed after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, were prevented from flying out of Kabul International Airport to Qatar, where some were to study at the AUAF facilities set up in Doha, and others were to transit to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to enrol at the American University of Central Asia.
A female student at the time said they had gone through all the airport procedures when Taliban officials ordered them to get off the plane. The students were told it was because they did not have mahram, which became a requirement for women travelling on domestic and international flights from March 2022 onwards.
Al Habtoor confirmed on 24 August, a day after last week’s airport incident, that at least three of the women students made it to Dubai. Nothing is known about the fate of the remaining members of the group with scholarships.
“I met three Afghan female students who made it to Dubai safely. They are among those who received the comprehensive scholarship that I provided them with, in collaboration with the University of Dubai,” he said, posting a video of himself talking to the three. He added: “We are hoping to see the rest of their classmates in Dubai very soon.”
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