Around 2,500 students in Afghanistan continue to wait for any movement from the Indian side to grant them visas to pursue their education in the country.
As the Taliban took over Afghanistan last year on August 15, India suspended all visas. Since then, India has issued only about 300 visas and those have largely been for Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, minorities that have faced persecution.
India restarted its Afghan embassy operations in June, but it’s not full-fledged and has made no difference to the visa waitlist.
The Afghan ambassador to India, Farid Mamundzay told journalists in Delhi that there was “need for flexibility in visa regime.” He said the matter had been taken up with the Indian side but they are still waiting to receive a response.
At present, there are about 14,000 Afghan students in India studying in 73 universities and other institutes. They were all in India before Kabul fell to the Taliban as the US withdrew and its supported government collapsed.
Those who were set to travel last year found their visas revoked in the midst of chaos in their country — at a time when Afghans were desperate to leave their country anyway.
When Kabul fell
The Indian embassy personnel were evacuated on August 17 last year, two days after Kabul fell. A statement from the Indian side said, “As regards Afghan nationals, our visa services will continue through an e-Emergency visa facility, which has been extended to Afghan nationals. This can be accessed through our e-visa portal.”
Eight days after that, a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs said that “previously issued visas to all Afghan nationals, who are presently not in India, stand invalidated with immediate effect”.