Afghan women arrive in Edinburgh to finish medical degrees denied under Taliban

A group of trainee female doctors from Afghanistan have travelled to Edinburgh to complete their medical degrees after the Taliban forced them to quit studying.

The 19 women arrived in the UK on Tuesday after a three-year campaign by the parents of Linda Norgrove , the kidnapped Scottish charity worker who was killed during a botched rescue attempt by US special forces in 2010.

The Linda Norgrove Foundation, set up and run by her parents, John and Lorna, from their home in Uig, in the Western Isles, said the students had in effect been confined to their homes in fear for their lives since the Taliban regained power.

The foundation worked with UK and Scottish government officials to arrange safe passage and student visas for the women. They have been given places at four medical schools after Scottish ministers changed the law to treat them as home students eligible for free tuition.

It said significant effort had gone into negotiating legal and bureaucratic hurdles to bring them to the UK, including organising English language tests and arranging university interviews via Skype.

It then negotiated their travel to Pakistan to apply for UK visas, Pakistani visas, biometrics, student funding, UK bank accounts and student accommodation. All told, it spent about £60,000.

Many of the women were based in Kabul, but others came from remote provinces, including Bamyan, Wardak and Daykundi. They flew to the UK from Islamabad in Pakistan.

In a statement issued by the foundation, one of the students, Omulbanin Sultani, said the Norgroves and their assistant “had saved our lives in every sense of the word” by supporting them over the last three years.

“It fills me with immense pride and joy to stand here today on this beautiful day,” she said. “But let me tell you, being here was not as easy as these words make it seem. We endured a thousand days of suffering to reach this point.”

Another student, Zahra Hussaini, 19, who had completed her first year of medicine when the Taliban regained power, said it was a dream to arrive in the UK. She said she hoped that by the time she qualified, it would be safe to return home.

“Our journey here will be long enough, maybe for eight years, nine years, and I think during this time many alterations and changes will come to Afghanistan,” she said. “I am hopeful that the situation won’t remain the same.”

John Norgrove said it was heartening the UK and Scottish governments had collaborated so closely on the project.

“Finally these 19 incredibly talented young women get their future back with the opportunity of a tremendous education and a career. The alternative for them in Afghanistan wasn’t good,” he said.

Linda Norgrove, then 36, was working for the US charity Development Alternatives Incorporated when she was kidnapped by Islamist militants in Kunar province in September 2010. Her death, apparently caused by a US fragmentation grenade thrown during the rescue attempt, caused consternation in the US and UK, and led to a joint inquiry by both governments.