Promises made by the Indian government to Afghan citizens have began to ring hollow as students from the Taliban-ruled country are facing difficulties in resuming their studies.
After the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, the Indian government started cancelling visas already issued, which mostly affected students.
The visa issues have now led to 2,500 students being stuck in Afghanistan with some even unable to appear for online exams.
Many of these Afghan students had been offered scholarships by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. However, no-issuance or cancellation of visas have lead to the students being unable to reach campuses and are now losing their admissions.
As Afghan students began their protests, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the reasons included security concerns and visa processing delays.
The Indian government only approved 300 visas in 2022, which was inadequate to satisfy the large number of applicants.
Already faced with the uncertainty of a war-torn country and lack of finances, the students are now beset with another hurdle imposed by the Indian authorities. Afghan students have also complained that they are often seen as drug peddlers and terrorists.
The biggest affectee in this period have been Afghan female students who are already banned from attending any university inside their own country by the Taliban.
The ICRC issues 3,940 scholarships to students from 140 countries, which have now been suddenly denied to Afghan students. In the same time period, Pakistan issued 4,500 visas to students from Afghanistan.
