A charity created to honor a Scottish aid worker who died in Afghanistan wants to bring 20 Afghan medical students to Scotland so they can complete their education.
Linda Norgrove, who was from Lewis, was taken by the Taliban in 2010 and passed away while there was an effort to save her.
Her parents started a foundation in her honor to help women and girls in Afghanistan.
The charity wants the UK and Scottish governments to make things easier for female medical students.
The organization said that despite making efforts and talking to both governments, they have not made any progress in bringing the women from Afghanistan to Scotland.
The Scottish government stated that Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth had a meeting with the charity and sent a letter to the Home Office in order to get clear and quick information about the situation.
The UK government said helping eligible Afghans move to a new place is very important.
The Linda Norgrove Foundation, which is located in the Western Isles, received upsetting messages from the students. The messages expressed their concerns about living under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
The Taliban came back in charge in August 2021 after the US-led group that was in Afghanistan for almost 20 years left the country.
After that, many strict rules were again put on women in Afghanistan.
The Taliban had said before that they would respect women’s rights in Afghanistan, but only according to Islamic law.
Linda Norgrove was a person.
The Linda Norgrove Foundation said that Scotland’s five medical schools agreed last year to allow 20 students to finish their studies.
However, Linda’s dad, John Norgrove, said, “We are getting very annoyed with all the wait times. ”
He said the charity was first told that the pathway for Afghan citizens through the UK’s Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme would start in January.
Mr Norgrove said that they decided to move the date to August, but now they are saying that it won’t open for a while.
He said, “Our students went from learning to be doctors to living a restricted life, where they only do housework and take care of children. ”
They are not allowed to go outside the house without a man with them. Some are scared for their safety and others may be forced to get married without their consent.
“They feel extremely sad and desperately need our assistance. ”
Tried to save
The Scottish government asked the UK government for information about what actions it was taking.
A spokesperson said: “We will provide a solution to assist these women by offering them free tuition and financial support for their living expenses.
In Scotland, students from Afghanistan who are part of certain resettlement programs can be considered as local students and receive financial support for living expenses.
We are upset that they haven’t given us this information yet, but we believe the Home Office can find a practical solution.
A spokesperson from the UK government said: “The UK has promised to help people in Afghanistan who are in danger, and we have so far managed to bring around 24,600 at-risk people to safety. This includes thousands of people who are qualified for our programs to resettle Afghan individuals. ”
Helping eligible Afghans move to new homes is very important to us. We are still working with others who have similar intentions and countries that are near Afghanistan to deal with the resettlement problems. Our aim is also to assist eligible individuals in safely reaching their destination.
Linda, who is 36 years old, was in charge of a project by USAID. This project aimed to create jobs and help the economies in unstable parts of Afghanistan.
She was taken against her will in Kunar on September 26, 2010 and unfortunately lost her life when US special forces tried to save her on October 8 of the same year.
A team of investigators from both the United Kingdom and the United States concluded that someone from the American soldiers threw a grenade that caused her death.