AUAF faces uncertainty as US ends $25 million grant

The American University of Afghanistan has lost its main donor after the US government decided to end its $25 million annual grant. This decision leaves 1,000 students, about three-quarters of them women, without the core funding they need to continue their studies. Laila, a student who studies political science and international studies, is among those affected. She has to study in secret, joining lectures from home with classmates who use aliases and keep their cameras off. She said she is worried that Taliban authorities could search her phone and find university emails.

The university opened in 2006, and former US first lady Laura Bush announced that the United States had committed millions of dollars to it. Patrick Fine, then Afghanistan mission director at USAID, the now-defunct American development agency, said many at the agency saw the idea as risky and some critics considered it a waste of money. The Bush administration, he said, saw a chance to stabilize a young democracy and build goodwill for the interim government that replaced the Taliban.

Fear shapes Laila's daily life. Some of her peers have received threatening calls and messages, and she worries that Taliban authorities could search her phone and find university emails. She said officials have entered her home several times to search the family's belongings. She said that it is always in the back of her head that maybe tomorrow it's my turn.

The US government decided to end its $25 million annual grant to the American University of Afghanistan. This decision reflects the university's history of repeated lack of accountability for millions of American taxpayer dollars. However, the university is not free to identify other funders and partners, so ending American taxpayer money does not necessarily mean the end of its operations. Still, without the $25 million grant, the university's future is uncertain.

For Laila, the news has been crushing. She said that she has lost all her motivation and hope, and that each time she prepares for a lecture she wonders whether another will follow. She has barely left her room since learning of the cut. She had expected to have graduated years ago and to be studying for a master's degree abroad. Now she thinks she may find a way in five or ten years.