Afghan girls team can travel to U.S. for robotics contest after being denied visas twice
Source: Washington Post
Afghan girls team can travel to U.S. for robotics contest after being denied visas twice
By Derek Hawkins July 13 at 1:16 AM
A group of Afghan teenage girls will be allowed to travel to the United States to partake in an international robotics competition after their visa applications were denied twice, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
A Homeland Security Department spokesman said in an email that the agency had approved a request from the State Department for the six girls on the robotics team and their chaperon to enter the country and attend the competition, which is set to bring teams from more than 160 countries to Washington next week.
The decision resolves a dispute that drew backlash (1) from human rights activists and raised questions about whether U.S. agencies were retreating from previous efforts to advocate for young women in Afghanistan, where they are often denied educational opportunities.
{For Afghan girls’ robotics team, U.S. visa denial was last of many hurdles} (2)
The criticisms also fueled arguments that President Trump is seeking to ban Muslims from entering the country. The most recent version (3) of Trump’s travel ban places visa restrictions on citizens of six predominantly Muslim countries, but Afghanistan is not on the list.
....
Derek Hawkins is a reporter with The Washington Post's Morning Mix. Follow @d_hawk
(1) https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/07/07/forgetting-about-girls-afghanistan-again
(2) https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/for-afghan-girls-robotics-team-us-visa-denial-was-last-of-many-hurdles/2017/07/07/f4afd606-6035-11e7-80a2-8c226031ac3f_story.html
(3) https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/travel-ban-to-take-effect-as-state-department-defines-close-family/2017/06/29/03eb8a8e-eba6-4749-9fa2-79117be89884_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.415a747936a2
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/13/afghan-girls-team-can-travel-to-u-s-for-robotics-contest-after-visas-denied-twice/
* * * * *
Retweeted by Dana Hedgpeth: https://twitter.com/postmetrogirl
Afghan girls team can travel to U.S. for robotics contest after twice denied visas
Link to tweet
= new reply since forum marked as read
Good to see that some sense prevailed. It gives some hope that athletes from those six or seven countries might be allowed to compete in the L.A. olympics in 2024 or 2028.
