Vancouver woman rallies to save stranded female Afghan students after U.S. foreign aid cuts

A group of Afghan women studying abroad face deportation to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan within days as a Vancouver woman tries to bring them to Canada.

Thirty female post-secondary students studying at the American University of Afghanistan campus in Qatar had their education derailed when the U.S. administration cut funding to U.S. Agency for International Development, which was supporting them. Their temporary visas expire Aug. 15.

Friba Rezayee, an Afghan-Canadian based in Vancouver, warns that if the students — aged 20 to 30 — are deported, they risk interrogation and imprisonment.

“They will be branded as infidels and spies by the regime simply for pursuing an American education,” said Rezayee, who arrived in Canada as a refugee in 2011.

She is urging Canadians and universitie