Belgium’s Minister for Asylum and Migration Anneleen Van Bossuyt has said Afghan nationals convicted of crimes and staying in Belgium illegally should be returned to Afghanistan after completing their prison sentences.

“I do not want them walking freely around our territory,” Van Bossuyt said.

She added that discussions with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) over the return of such individuals do not amount to supporting the IEA.

“Afghan criminals who are staying illegally and are in our prisons, for example for the rape of minors, must return after serving their sentences,” she said.

Van Bossuyt said such contacts were aimed at addressing security concerns, including the safety of women and girls in Belgium.

Lithuanian border guards have detained 35 Afghan and Iraqi migrants who crossed into Lithuania from Belarus, the Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service (VSAT) said.

The group was detected on Thursday evening after crossing the border near Katras village in the Varėna district, part of the Čepkeliai nature reserve.

Lithuanian authorities launched a large-scale operation to locate the migrants, deploying a VSAT helicopter, border guards, special forces and sniffer dogs. Police also assisted in the operation.

The migrants split into several groups but were detained before they could travel deeper into Lithuanian territory.

All 35 detainees were men aged approximately 20 to 30. Eleven had identification documents, while the others had none.

The VSAT said individual assessments found no security threats among the group. By Friday morning, 29 of the migrants had been denied entry and returned to Belarus in accordance with Lithuanian law.

Interviews with five others were still underway, while another migrant was taken to a medical facility for examination after reporting health problems.

Lithuanian border authorities said they have prevented 1,661 migrants from illegally entering the country from Belarus so far this year.

The U.S. State Department has rejected a $25 million funding request from the American University of Afghanistan for the next two years, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

The university has about 980 students, around three-quarters of them women, with about 90 percent based in Afghanistan. All students currently study online.

David Edwards, the university’s interim president, said the funding decision threatens one of the few remaining opportunities for Afghan women to pursue higher education from inside Afghanistan.

“We are the only venue for education for a whole generation of Afghans,” Edwards said.

The State Department said it would stop funding the university at the end of this year, citing what it described as a history of “repeated lack of accountability for millions of American taxpayer dollars.”

The university has been told that, as a condition for remaining open, it must partner with the American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan. Edwards said he would work with the university, although its Kyrgyzstan campus does not offer remote instruction.

The State Department said the U.S. government remained committed to supporting education for Afghan women and girls through remote-learning programs and was working to identify organizations that could administer those programs.

The university faced allegations of financial mismanagement in 2019. Edwards said those issues had been addressed and that its audits have been clean since 2021.

Established in Kabul in 2006, the American University of Afghanistan received more than $225 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development since its founding.

Following the Islamic Emirate takeover in 2021, the university evacuated its foreign staff, while some students left Afghanistan and others remained in the country. Its Kabul campus is now used by the Afghan International Islamic University, according to the report.