PM Boris Johnson Intervenes Over Visas For Afghan Students

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised that the government will try to help 35 Afghan students get visas to travel to the UK, after they were blocked by the Foreign Office from taking up prestigious British scholarships this year.

Amid concerns among the students that their scholarships could make them targets of the Taliban, the prime minister intervened to say efforts would be made to accelerate their visas, hours after the Foreign Office defended its decision to prevent them taking up places this September.

Initially, the Foreign Office said it was deferring their Chevening scholarships for a year because it could not manage to administer their visas at the embassy in Kabul, which is now being evacuated.

The students were given the news this month in a letter from the British ambassador to Kabul, Sir Laurie Bristow.

The move prompted outrage, with David Lidington and Rory Stewart, two former Conservative cabinet ministers, calling on the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, to intervene.

Pressed on the issue of the scholars, Johnson told Sky News on Sunday: “We do want to make sure they are able to come and so we are doing whatever we can to accelerate their visas to get them over as well.”

The Kabul elements of the programme that the embassy could no longer complete include travel administration and visa processing.

Last Thursday, the students held a virtual meeting with officials in the UK embassy in Kabul were they put forward alternatives for the final administration of their scholarships, including having their visas processed in a third country. These options were at the time rejected by the embassy.

The students are unwilling to speak publicly about their situation, anxious not to jeopardise their scholarships, but also out of worry of being identifiable to the Taliban.

Several of the students are members of vulnerable ethnic and religious minorities, some have previously been displaced by Taliban violence, and their association with British universities could make them particular targets.

The students are hopeful their scholarships will only be deferred, but they are deeply concerned it could be impossible to leave Afghanistan in a year’s time.