Bob McCarty Writes

Passport to Terror?

Three words — terror, terrorism and terrorists — came to mind after reading a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article about five visiting scholars from Kabul University in Afghanistan being reported missing from the University of Washington.  None of those words, however, appeared in the left-coast newspaper article, despite the fact that our nation is waging a war in Afghanistan as we speak.

According to the article, brilliant university officials think the students — who’ve been missing for more than a week — could be trying to remain in the country illegally. (Ya think?) Apparently, the opportunity to study public administration at UW — made possible through the Afghan eQuality Alliances, a program coordinated with the U.S. Agency for International Development — just wasn’t enough to hold their interest. (Perhaps some ADD medication would help.)

After reading that the students successfully underwent USAID background checks prior to being accepted into the program, I decided to see if I could find out what folks connected to the program had to say about those students now.

I contacted officials connected with the program at the university level, at USAID and at the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency charged with monitoring international students in this country.  Heck, I even contacted an Afghan student involved in the program.  Here’s a look at how those exchanges went:

• During a phone conversation this morning, USAID Press Officer Harry Edwards said his office was working on the matter and promised to provide answers soon.

• Program officials at Washington State University have yet to respond to my attempts to contact them.

• A call to to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Brandon Montgomery, netted cursory information and a promise of more to come.  The agency’s spokesperson on international affairs and student exchange and visitor programs, Montgomery told me his agency will begin investigating the matter as soon as officials at the university update the students’ information in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).  Until the university bureaucrats act, apparently, the government bureaucrats cannot.

• Finally, I forwarded questions about the case to an Afghan student participating in the program after uncovering his e-mail address and personal web site on the Afghan eQuality Alliances web site.  Whether or not he has ties to any of the students or is willing to share information about the program remains to be seen, though I hold little hope that it will yield fruit.

My hope, of course, is that nothing bad will happen in connection with these missing students.  But for a major metropolitan newspaper to not even mention the possibility of them being involved in terrorism is inexcusable — or, more accurately, just politically correctness run amok.

Developing…

UPDATE 10/15/08 3:55 p.m. CDT:  More Details Surface on Missing Afghan Students

Hat tip:  Death By 1000 Papercuts