Washington: A team of Afghan girls who had been denied visas to attend a Washington robotics competition are now allowed to come, organizers said Wednesday.
US authorities had originally refused access to schoolchildren from a number of Muslim-majority nations to participate in the science contest, decisions that followed implementation of stricter visa policies under President Donald Trump.
But Trump urged a reversal of course following public outcry over the Afghan girls' inability to attend the event, according to US media.
"All 163 teams from 157 countries have gained approval to the United States, including Iran, Sudan, and a team of Syrian refugees," said Sestak, a former US Navy admiral and congressman.
The six girls from Herat, Afghanistan, were reportedly blocked from attending the robotics competition even after two rounds of interviews for a one-week visa.
"We were not a terrorist group to go to America and scare people," 14-year-old competitor Fatema Ghaderyan told AFP in Herat.
"We cried a lot after we heard our visa was rejected," added 15-year-old Kowser Roshan. "We thought we had good relations with America and expected to be accepted."
Organiser Ali Reza Mehraban of the Digital Citizen Foundation said it had been especially difficult to find girls in deeply conservative, war-torn Afghanistan whose families would allow them to take part.
A limited version of Trump's travel ban -- temporarily barring refugees and visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- recently took effect, after the US Supreme Court allowed it to be enforced pending a full hearing in October.
Travellers from Afghanistan and Gambia are unaffected by that measure.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
US authorities had originally refused access to schoolchildren from a number of Muslim-majority nations to participate in the science contest, decisions that followed implementation of stricter visa policies under President Donald Trump.
But Trump urged a reversal of course following public outcry over the Afghan girls' inability to attend the event, according to US media.
"All 163 teams from 157 countries have gained approval to the United States, including Iran, Sudan, and a team of Syrian refugees," said Sestak, a former US Navy admiral and congressman.
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The six girls from Herat, Afghanistan, were reportedly blocked from attending the robotics competition even after two rounds of interviews for a one-week visa.
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"We were not a terrorist group to go to America and scare people," 14-year-old competitor Fatema Ghaderyan told AFP in Herat.
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"We cried a lot after we heard our visa was rejected," added 15-year-old Kowser Roshan. "We thought we had good relations with America and expected to be accepted."
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Organiser Ali Reza Mehraban of the Digital Citizen Foundation said it had been especially difficult to find girls in deeply conservative, war-torn Afghanistan whose families would allow them to take part.
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A limited version of Trump's travel ban -- temporarily barring refugees and visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- recently took effect, after the US Supreme Court allowed it to be enforced pending a full hearing in October.
Travellers from Afghanistan and Gambia are unaffected by that measure.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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