America

Opinion: American University of Afghanistan in exile

November 30, 2021
Henry Club

Then, on August 24, 2016, Taliban gunmen chased the compound, relocating anyone. One of them shot Musazai in the leg. He pretended to be dead and the gunman shot again to finish him off. A bullet hit his leg. For the next six hours, Musazai lay motionless in a hallway as the terrorists created a stampede on the premises.

Taliban killed a total 15 students and employees that day. The university was a major symbol of the American presence in Afghanistan, making it an attractive target for the Taliban. For students, especially women like Musazai, the university represents the modern world of Enlightenment values, to which the Taliban have long stood staunch opposition.

Five years after their attack on the American University of Afghanistan, the Taliban took control of the entire country.

The evacuation of Afghans at risk since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in mid-August must have been accepted by the whole world. But for many Afghans the story continues. Of the 4,000 American University of Afghanistan students, alumni and staff, only about 600 are now estimated to have emigrated from Afghanistan, Ian Bickford, the university’s president, told me.

(Disclosure: In May, I attended a planning meeting with university leaders in which they discussed what to do if the Taliban took power).

Musazai’s Journey

Breshna Musazai was one of the lucky few who survived a Taliban attack on her university in 2016, but was seriously injured and spent four months in a hospital in Kabul. She was then moved to Dallas, Texas, where she spent more than six months First Baptist Medical Center, Doctors performed surgery on her leg, which saved her.
In the summer of 2017, Musazai, now using a wheelchair, returned to Kabul. complete her studies at the American University of Afghanistan. At her graduation ceremony the following year, the audience applauded as 28-year-old Musazai accepted her degree.
Musazai told me that during her later years, like many students, staff, and alumni of her university, she was concerned by the military progress being made by the Taliban in Afghanistan, particularly the announcement in April by US President Joe Biden. after that total withdrawal By the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the number of US troops from the country will be completed.
In the months following Biden’s announcement, most US troops withdrew from Afghanistan as did thousands Allied NATO troops and over 15,000 contractors led to the collapse of the Afghan army and government.

On 15 August, as the terrorists entered Kabul, a family member told Musazai, “The Taliban are here.” Musazai was in shock.

Someone from the American University of Afghanistan sent a message to Musazai, saying that he and his brother could fly out of the country. On 17 August, Musazai went to Kabul airport, where thousands of desperate Afghans were jammed against the airport’s walls and gates trying to get out.

The Taliban opened fire in the air to control the crowd. Musazai was scared; She had found the gunshots especially terrifying since the attack on the university.

Musazai’s brother helped him with his bag and wheelchair, and they boarded a flight that took him to Doha, the capital of Qatar. There they settled in a gated community of houses, which was built by the Qatari government to house players playing in the Football World Cup, which will take place in Qatar next year.

lucky few

Also living in the housing complex were seven Afghan female business students from the American University of Afghanistan. Unlike Musazai, their names have not been made public, so we are not identifying them.

The students had to make quick decisions, leaving their families behind and making the difficult choice of leaving Afghanistan early.

His families urged him to continue his studies, even if it meant leaving his country forever.

The students told me that they were unable to come out of the bedlam on their own at the airport gate. The university told him to contact Qatari diplomats based at the Serena Hotel in Kabul who would help him get to the airport.

The students gathered at the hotel, and were escorted to the airport by Qatari government officials, who maintain cordial relations with the Taliban.

On 19 August he reached Doha where he joined the exodus of his fellow students. As of this month, about 450 current students have left Afghanistan, while 375 remain, says Bickford, president of the American University of Afghanistan.

Students moving out of Afghanistan are now spread around the world where they are being taught in online classes. One hundred and nine students attend the American University of Iraq in Sulaimania, while 106 are at the American Central Asia University in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and others in countries such as Pakistan and Turkey.

100 students to be placed in Qatar education city of doha Where American universities such as Georgetown and Northwestern maintain satellite campuses.

Only 50 students from the American University of Afghanistan have entered the United States where they are housed in military bases while they are settling down.

The seven female business students who arrived in Doha are now living at the military base in Fort Dix, New Jersey. From there he would attend Bard, a small, highly regarded liberal arts college in upstate New York.

Musazai lives in Doha. Injuries caused by the Taliban have complicated his ability to travel. Many of his immediate family moved to the United States and they now live on a military base in the Midwest.

Musazai hopes to continue her studies in a master’s program on human rights law in the United States. It is a career path that would not be available to him in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

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