Afghan Education: US Withholds $25 Million AUAF Grant

The United States has refused a $25 million grant to the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), removing the institution's primary source of funding.

The State Department press office told Deutsche Welle that the decision reflects the university's history of repeated lack of accountability for American taxpayer dollars. This marks a major shift for a university that has long relied on US aid, with Washington providing nearly 90% of the budget as of 2018.

AUAF serves roughly 1,000 students, about three-quarters of whom are women. Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, the campus has been seized, forcing students to study in secret through an online program. Laila, a political science student in her mid-twenties, joins lectures from home using an alias. She said she knows her classmates only by their voices because they keep their cameras off to avoid detection.

Laila started at AUAF after winning a scholarship following the Taliban's December 2022 ban on women's education. She described a constant fear of discovery, noting that officials have searched her home several times. She worries that university emails on her phone could expose her. Since learning of the funding cut, she has barely left her room and fears she may not graduate for five or ten years.

The university opened in 2006 with initial support from the Bush administration, which viewed it as a way to stabilize a young democracy. Patrick Fine, the former Afghanistan mission director at USAID, said the agency initially saw the project as risky. He rejected the State Department's current reasoning as smear tactics, stating that earlier audits did not find major fraud despite struggles with complex rules.

US inspectors began investigating AUAF's finances in 2016. By 2018, they reported that poor accounting made it difficult to track exactly how aid money was spent. John Sopko, a former US federal inspector who oversaw the probe, expressed surprise that the university continued to receive funding. He told Deutsche Welle that he was surprised they were still funding AUAF.

The State Department said the university is free to identify other funders and partners. While other donors exist, they have not compensated for the loss of the American contribution. Laila, who had expected to study for a master's degree abroad, said she has lost all her motivation and hope for the future.