15 July, 2017
However, the move sparked an worldwide outcry and only after U.S President Donald Trump reportedly stepped in on Wednesday night (Kabul time) was the initial decision overturned and visas were ordered to be issued. The decision by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services means the six girls from the war-torn country will be allowed in, along with their chaperone, so they can participate in the competition.
State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a press briefing Thursday that she could not comment on why the visa applications were denied, adding that that is confidential information under USA law.
It has been an odyssey, but finally, a team of six Afghan girls will be able to travel to the United States to compete in a robotics tournament.
A team of Afghan girls who had been denied visas to attend a Washington robotics competition spoke of Donald Trump's support Thursday after U.S. authorities changed course and allowed them to come.
According to the competition's news release, a team from Gambia has also been approved for travel to the United States after its application for visas was initially denied. Afghanistan is not one of the six countries affected by the President's travel ban, though it is a Muslim-majority country whose visa applicants often draw scrutiny.
The Washington Post reports they had to take "two 500-mile trips from their hometown of Herat in western Afghanistan to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul" just to apply for visas.
The six girls on the team will travel to the United States for next week's FIRST Global Challenge, an worldwide robotics competition in Washington that will be attended by teams from more than 150 countries.
"Female students and faculty members, facing extra frustrations at home, are no exception".
The ordeal has a happy ending but still meant an arduous, emotional journey for the team. "We are going from a war-torn country and the objective is to show the capability of Afghan women".
"It's important for Afghan women to be able to share their ideas", said Mehraban. One team from each country is invited to participate, like an Olympics of high school robot builders.
Earlier, visas issued to the students of Gambia. "I truly believe our greatest power is the power to convene nations, to bring people together in the pursuit of a common goal and prove that our similarities greatly outweigh our differences", Joe Sestak, the president of First Global, was quoted as saying by AP.
"That is why I am most grateful to the USA government and its state department for ensuring Afghanistan, as well as Gambia, would be able to join us for this global competition this year".
With the final obstacles to their journey removed, the girls can now turn their focus back to robotics.
Another team member, Lida Azizi, said: "We made a lot of effort to attend the competition and now we will go there to show the robot we built".
There was also good news for the Gambian team that entered the competition and was also denied visas, as that decision has now been overturned as well.
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