U.S. troops are set to withdraw at the end of August as the security situation is rapidly deteriorating.
As the with the Taliban onslaught, years of American investment in the infrastructure of Afghan education remains. As of Friday morning, Taliban forces now control two-thirds of Afghanistan, including the key cities of Ghazni and Kandahar. Like with everything else in Afghanistan, the future of education, particularly, depends on whether the Taliban take over the country. Afghan educators and students hope the American support of education in Afghanistan does not end with the military withdrawal. Literacy rates for Afghans 15 and older have increased from 31.4% in 2011 to 43% in 2018, according to the World Bank. USAID reports that since 2001, student enrollment grew from 900,000 male students to more than 9.5 million students,39% of whom are girls, in 2020. « Over the last 20 years, there’s no question, virtually every major indicator -obviously with the exception of violence- infant mortality rates, literacy rates, GDP per capita, women’s rights, the ability of girls to go to school. All of that has vastly improved, particularly in urban areas of the country, » said Seth Jones, director of the transnational threats project at the Center at CSIS. USAID maintains it will continue to invest in Afghanistan’s education, citing the Biden administration’s commitment to remain engaged with the government of Afghanistan, according to a spokesperson for the organization. One pillar of U.S. education investment has been the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF). Established in 2006 with a grant from USAID, the university was founded with the idea of implementing an American higher education model. « It was life changing. It completely transformed me as a person. The university is like a window to the world. You can see so many opportunities, » Shafiqa Khpalwak, a former student at AUAF and director of the Musawer Foundation, told CBS News. Khpalwak,25, started a foundation that works on children’s literature and education. She recounts that in times when sentiments towards Americans were bleak, AUAF was a legacy the U.S. could be proud of. Now she fears for the future stability of the country and the university.
