Afghan students outside Parliament

AFGHAN students from across the borough gathered by Parliament to call on the government to reverse its ban on visas for those wishing to come and study in UK.

The Home Office announced in March that it would end study visas from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar, and Sudan, alongside work visas for Afghans.

But on Wednesday, students from the Taliban-controlled country told the Tribune how the ban meant their sisters and friends would now permanently be denied an education, and were losing hope.

Maiwand Ahmadi Martindale, who was brought over to the UK in 2024 under the Afghan resettlement scheme, said he felt that the government had abandoned Afghans they had worked alongside.

“They don’t care about Afghans,” he said. “I know a lot of Afghans who have worked with the British government, but they don’t listen even to them.”

Mr Ahmadi Martindale, who now lives in Crouch Hill, spoke of how many teenagers dream of studying in the UK in the hope of better opportunities.

He said: “Many girls want to come to this country for an education. This is their dream, to achieve. In Afghanistan, this oppor­tunity is closed. This is very hard.”

Meanwhile, Mina Mohammadi, who was part of the national cycling team in Afganistan before the Taliban banned girls from participating in sports, is now a third-year student of politics at Brunel University.

“We worked for 20 years to build our future, especially women, to study, to build our country, but everything changed overnight”, she recalled. “I lost all my hope that I will ever leave. Then suddenly everything changed. Our coach found a way, and there were people here helping us to get the humanitarian visa.”

Maiwand Ahmadi Martindale

Ms Mohammadi spoke of her sisters still living in the west of Afghanistan and how the Taliban had systematically stripped women of their rights to study or work.

“It’s scary”, the politics student said. “I have my sisters, my friends, they who have been affected by these policies.

“My friends are always looking to find opportunities, find scholarships, to go abroad and study, because they cannot study in Afghanistan.

“This country was one of the few that gave women the opportunity to come and study.

“I, myself, I know Afghan women who have worked hard for months to get their application here, and study, but suddenly everything changed.

“The door closed entirely for them, and I don’t know what they are going to do.”

Ms Mohammadi said that the UK had a responsibility to stand up for the values it purports to represent on the world stage.

“In the international system, they [the UK] talk about equality, the right to education, they have the moral responsibility to open the way for vulnerable people, like Afghan students, particularly women”, she told the Tribune.

Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn, who is supporting the campaigners, said: “This government’s cruelty knows no bounds – and I am dismayed by their decision to ban student visas from Afganistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan.

“What an appalling message to send to young people who have contributed so much to this country, many of whom have escaped war and persecution. We should call this out for what is: a disgusting and discriminatory policy that [Donald] Trump would be proud of.”

Dr Jo Grady, general secretary of the UCU, said in a statement: “This attack on international students isn’t really about reducing asylum claims, it’s about aping Reform to try and win back votes. The Greens’ destruction of Labour in the Gorton and Denton by-election should have been a wake-up call – these tactics aren’t just immoral, they’re political suicide.”