The father of one of the Afghan girls who caught the world's attention when trying to attend a robotics contest in the United States was killed on Tuesday in an ISIL-claimed attack at a mosque in Herat. Fatemah Qaderyan, the 14-year-old Afghan robotics team captain, is "angry and grieving" following the deadly attack on Shia worshippers, the team's coach, Ali Reza Mehrban, told Al Jazeera. "Fatemah's father could not survive the injuries and lost his life," Ali Reza Mehrban, the team's director, told Al Jazeera. At least 32 people were killed in the attack, and more than 60 were wounded. "[Fatemah] is very angry and is not eating or speaking to anyone, she is going through a very difficult time," Mehrban said.

Members of a female robotics team from Afghanistan Robotic House, a private training institute, arrive from Herat province to receive visas from the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan on July 13. At the urging of President Donald Trump, U.S. officials have reversed course and decided to allow into the United States a group of Afghan girls hoping to participate in an international robotics competition next week, senior administration officials told POLITICO on Wednesday. The decision followed a furious public backlash to the news that the six teens had been denied U.S. visas. That criticism swelled as details emerged about the girls' struggle to build their robot and get visas. "The State Department worked incredibly well with the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that this case was reviewed and handled appropriately," Dina Powell, Trump's deputy national security adviser for strategy, said in a statement.

Members of Afghan robotics girls team which was denied entry into the U.S. for a competition, work on their robots in Herat province, Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan -- The third time's the charm for Afghanistan's all girl robotics team, who will be allowed entry into the U.S. to compete in a competition after President Donald Trump personally intervened to reverse a decision twice denying them enter into the country. The six girls will now be able to participate next week against entrants from 157 countries. The Afghan girls have devised a ball-sorting robot, which has the ability to recognize orange and blue colors, and can move objects to put them in their correct places. This is such an important trip for us," said 15-year-old team member Lida Azizi, who was excited at the prospect of being able to compete. The White House on Wednesday said President Trump intervened to allow the team to come to the U.S. After looking at several options, the National Security Council eventually settled on "paroling" the girls, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Parole is a temporary status that allows a person who is otherwise ineligible to enter the United States temporarily because of an emergency or humanitarian purpose, or because it's considered in the public good. "It's a happy moment for our team," team manager Alireza Mehraban told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "We are going from a war-torn country and the purpose is to show the capability of Afghan women.

A senior administration official said that Trump raised the issue with his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, during his trip to Germany last week for the Group of 20 summit, and had asked for additional options. The State Department and Department of Homeland Security came up with several -- with the idea of "paroling" the girls through the Department of Homeland Security, the option ultimately chosen by the National Security Council. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations.

FILE- In this Thursday, July 6, 2017, file photo, teenagers from the Afghanistan Robotic House, a private training institute, practice at the Better Idea Organization center, in Herat, Afghanistan. U.S. President Donald Trump intervened to allow the group of Afghan girls into the country to participate in a robotics competition. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed the president's intervention Wednesday, July 12, 2017. The six female students from Afghanistan had hoped to participate in an international robotics competition this month, but their visa applications to enter the U.S. were denied twice.

WASHINGTON – U.S. officials will allow a group of Afghan girls into the country to participate in an international robotics competition after President Donald Trump intervened, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed Wednesday, ending a saga that had sparked international backlash. Homeland Security Department spokesman David Lapan said the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved a State Department request for six girls from the war-torn country to be allowed in, along with their chaperone, so they can participate in the competition. The girls' applications for U.S. visas had been denied twice. The non-profit organizing the competition celebrated the reversal in a jubilant statement Wednesday. "I truly believe our greatest power is the power to convene nations, to bring people together in the pursuit of a common goal and prove that our similarities greatly outweigh our differences," said Joe Sestak, the president of First Global.

Five young inventors from Gambia are the latest students to be denied visas to enter the US for a prestigious international robotics contest in Washington. The teens found the rejection'very disheartening,' their coach, Mucktarr Darboe, said on Tuesday. Darboe, who is also a director in the largely Muslim West African nation's ministry of higher education, said the students were not given a reason for the visa denials in April, and he called the decision'disappointing and unfair.' The US Embassy in Banjul, Gambia's capital, could not immediately be reached for comment. Mucktarr Darboe is pictured with members of Gambia's student team that was denied visas to travel to Washington for a robotics contest Gambia has been through dramatic change in recent months, ousting via elections a longtime dictator, Yahya Jammeh, whose administration was accused of human rights abuses.

They'll have to find a way to make the virtual robot successfully align a communications dish, repair a solar array and fix a habitat leak. Thankfully, Valkyrie doesn't need food, so they won't need to make it plant potatoes in the simulation. What they do need to figure out, though, is how the robot can accomplish all those with the added trouble of a communication delay between Earth and the red planet. Hey, the dust storm was supposed to have knocked out the communications dish, after all. The agency has been planning this contest since 2015 and even sent two Valkyries to MIT and Northeastern University in Boston to get them ready for the competition.