Chemistry

Afghanistan's research infrastructure may be idling, but students and researchers who managed to escape abroad continue their work and plan to return to ...

‘We also know of cases of scientists in Central America that are going through some hardship because of the government, and we don’t see that same resource mobilisation.’ ‘They can’t say when and they can’t say in what capacity, but that is their goal.’ As part of this effort, staff from the Polish Academy of Sciences went to busy train stations in Poland, and talked to Ukranians fleeing to determine if they were scientists or engineers, and get them applications for the Safe Passage Fund. Bickford suggests that these crises, one after another, are connected to the rise of authoritarianism around the world. Under this system, the Polish Academy vetted the applications and NAS then convened a group of internal and external experts to help confirm whether applicants have the scientific training and credentials they alleged. The first family to arrive in Rwanda remains there but should join the others in America shortly. In autumn 2022, 300 new students in Afghanistan – 200 of which are women – are expected to enrol at AUAF virtually. He agrees, however, that there is a ‘considerable loss of intellectual talent’ from the country, and notes that it would be even greater if entering other countries was easier. AUAF established several hosting relationships with universities around the world – most prominently the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, and the American University of Iraq Sulaimani in Kurdistan. In the US, the university also has partnerships with Princeton, MIT, Williams College and Stanford. AUAF’s primary partner in the US is Bard College in New York, which immediately pledged to host up to 100 Afghan students with full tuition, room and board scholarships. A year since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, the country’s academic and scientific research community remains in disarray – either in hiding or spread out across the world.