160 stranded Afghan female students returning to Chattogram

PBC News: Some 160 Afghan female students, studying at Asian University for Women in Chattogram, went home on vacation. They got stranded in their own country after Taliban took over power. The students were waiting outside the Kabul International Airport from 2:00pm (local time) on Wednesday (August 25) to return to Bangladesh.

Along with 15 stranded Bangladesh nationals, the 160 Afghan female students are scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh by a special flight from Kabul under the supervision of the United States. The aircraft is scheduled to leave Kabul for Dhaka today (Thursday) and land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. On completion of all formalities, the Afghan students will go to Asian University for Women in Chattogram.

Wing Commander Farhad Hossain Khan, manager at Shah Amanat International Airport, stated it to journalists on Thursday.

Khan said: “We know that a special flight from Afghanistan will land in Dhaka. But, it was not told how the students will arrive in Chattogram. 160 students of Asian University for Women may arrive at their campus at their own initiatives.”

It is learnt that more than 160 Afghan female students study at Asian University for Women. The students return to their country in the context of the closure of their university last year following the outbreak of coronavirus infection and imposition of lockdown. They have been trying to return to their university in Chattogram again over the last two months. But, they got stranded in their country after the Taliban have taken over power recently.

Taking the situation in Kabul into consideration, the Asian University for Women authorities have taken an initiative to bring the Afghan students back to Bangladesh under a special arrangement by the United States. As part of the initiative, some 160 Afghan students will go to their campus in Chattogram directly arriving at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport coming from Hamid Karzai International Airport by a special flight.

An official of Asian University for Women in Chattogram said the 160 Afghan female students have been trying to arrive in Bangladesh since August this year. However, they contacted with Bangladesh Embassy in Kabul to receive their visas in July. Meantime, the political situation in Afghanistan started to deteriorating gradually. Subsequently, visas for these 160 female Afghan students were arranged from Tashkent, capital of neighbouring Uzbekistan.

It may be mentioned that there is no embassy of Bangladesh in Afghanistan. The Bangladesh embassy in Uzbekistan works for Afghanistan.

Under the supervision of Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Secretary (East) Masfee Binte Shams, Bangladesh Ambassador to Uzbekistan Md Jahangir Alam, the UNHCR office in Kabul and Asian University for Women in Chattogram have taken the initiatives to bring back the Afghan female students to Bangladesh who were stranded in Kabul.