Dear Signers, 

Thank you so much for your support. 2,500 Afghan students chose to pursue higher education in India because we’ve always considered India our second home; today, we find ourselves stranded in Afghanistan because the Indian government won’t renew our visas. Watch this video to know what an Afghan girl student enrolled in India but stuck in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan is going through. 

Click here to share this petition on WhatsApp. Help this petition get to 10,000 signatures so that the Indian authorities are apprised of our grievances and can take urgent steps to re-issue visas to Afghan students. Click here to share this petition on Twitter. 

The people of India have generally always been concerned about Afghanistan and have always been forthcoming in extending help to our embattled country over the years. Since the Taliban invasion, Indian politicians and lawmakers have asked questions in Parliament regarding the kind of assistance the Indian government was providing to Afghanistan, its plans for evacuating Hindu and Sikh refugees and attacks on Gurdwaras in Afghanistan. However, in the nearly two years since the Taliban takeover, not a single Indian Member of Parliament has raised the issue of Afghan students enrolled in India but stranded in Afghanistan, who’ve lost their two academic years because of the denial of visas. 

I also know that Indian universities are losing out on precious Afghan talent who could have gone on to become future ambassadors and leaders of Afghanistan. For example, in the immediate aftermath of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, OP Jindal Global University in Sonepat, Haryana, launched a fellowship for Afghan students to help them pursue their PhD degrees at any of the schools of the residential university. The fellowship was launched in response to Afghanistan’s precarious political situation, to provide Afghan scholars with credible educational alternatives. 

However, of the few students who were in Afghanistan at the time and were selected for the fellowship, none of them could get visas to come to India despite the University also trying to get their visas approved. I see this as an opportunity missed. India can help cultivate a future stream of Afghan scholars who may become overseas ambassadors of their country and represent the needs of the Afghan people on diverse international fora. 

Please continue sharing this petition within your social circles and also share this video. Let’s continue building the momentum for this campaign so that the Indian authorities realise the urgent need to grant visas to Afghan students.