Finally, visas in hand, Afghan girls depart for the U.S. and a global robotics competition

When Afghan 10th-grader Fatemeh Qaderian learned that her girls' robotics team had been denied visas to attend an international competition in Washington -- despite applying twice -- the 14-year-old said she "lost hope." "We worked hard and spent a lot of time," said Qaderian, who flew back and forth with her teammates from their hometown in western Afghanistan to apply at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. "I called my parents and told them what happened, and they were upset, too." Those emotions morphed into elation as Qaderian and her teammates boarded a plane at Kabul International Airport on Friday morning en route to next week's competition, having been granted visas thanks to last-minute intervention by the Trump administration. "It's impossible to express how excited I am," Qaderian said.