Boris Johnson: UK will do ‘whatever it can’ to host Afghan students

Boris Johnson appears to have personally intervened to ensure that 34 Afghan students can take up prestigious Chevening scholarships to study in the UK.

An earlier decision by the Foreign Office to “pause” the Chevening programme in Afghanistan, as the British embassy was unable to administer the programme amid the takeover of the country by the Taliban, was greeted with widespread outrage, including from leading figures in the Conservative Party.

Rory Stewart, former secretary of state for overseas development – and the author of a book about his solo walk across Afghanistan – tweeted on 15 August that it was “Deeply disappointing to hear – on top of everything – that Afghans who received Scholarships from the UK government to study in the UK this year have now been told they will not be granted visas due to ‘administration issues’. Surely someone can sort this out?”

David Liddington, former de facto deputy prime minister, also tweeted on 14 August that the decision was “both morally wrong & against UK interests. Surely those accepted onto Chevening [scholarships] will be at particular risk from Taliban & among ‘brightest & best’ whom our government rightly wants to attract to UK”. Others expressed concerns about what any delays would mean for the students concerned, some of them from vulnerable ethnic minorities, and whether they would be able to leave the country in a year’s time if there was no longer a British embassy in Afghanistan.

However, when the prime minister appeared on Sky News on 15 August, he was  asked about both Afghan refugees and the specific case of the Chevening scholars. He replied that “we do want to make sure [the students] are able to come and so we are doing whatever we can to accelerate their visas to get them over”.

Mr Stewart tweeted in response that he was “very pleased that the UK government has now agreed to take the Afghan Chevening scholars who were promised places earlier this year. Thank you to everyone who campaigned on this.”

matthew.reisz@timeshighereducation.com