SIX female students from war-torn Afghanistan who had hoped to take part in an international robotics competition in the US will have to watch via video link after their visa applications were denied twice.

The girls wanted to show the world that Afghans could also construct a hand-made robot.

But of 162 teams who planned to take part, the Afghan girls are the only nation’s team to be denied visas by the US and must simply watch from their home town in western Afghanistan.

“When we heard that we were rejected we lost hope,” said 14-year-old Sumaya Farooqi. “We applied again for the US visa and we were rejected again.”

Afghanistan is not part of US President Donald Trump’s order to temporarily ban travel from six Muslim-majority countries.

Although the Afghan girls were denied entry into the country, the team’s robot was not.