The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan generates a great deal of uncertainty and worry for many groups in the population, including the local scholarly community. SAR Switzerland and the SNSF share these concerns and wish to point out that Scholars at Risk is a means of assisting researchers at acute risk in their own country and that the SNSF finances SAR’s activities in Switzerland within the scope of its Scientific Exchanges funding scheme.

SAR Switzerland and the SNSF also call for an international effort to defend the safety and freedoms of Afghan researchers. The science system should be free, diverse and internationally open; this is threatened whenever scientists find their own and their families’ wellbeing at risk.

• SAR appeals for Afghanistan’s scholarly community: support letter; donations
• SNSF media release on Afghanistan
• SNSF funding guidelines for Scholars at Risk applications