Wednesday, July 21, 2021

If The Government Doesn't, Veteran Volunteers Will!

"Were in constant contact with dozens of families, helping each work through a specific extraction plan while reassuring them that someone actually cares about their safety and well-being."
"We're operating very close to the wire financially, between housing, food, clothing, medical expenses, transportation."
Robin Rickards, retired corporal

"These Afghans believed in Canada and it's shameful that we still have not seen a full government plan and response."
"Individual veterans are stepping in to do what they can in the interim, but both our Veterans and these interpreters deserve so much better."
Kate Rusk, co-founder, Not Left Behind
Canadian Forces soldiers line up at the Tim Horton's as the sun rises over Canada House at Kandahar Air Field Saturday, November 12, 2011 in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
An organization counting retired military officers and diplomats among its ranks is looking for volunteers to welcome and help integrate any former Afghan interpreters and their families who end up being evacuated to Canada. The Star
 
A group of Canadian veterans is busy involving themselves aiding in the financing of the evacuation of interpreters and other people in Afghanistan who chose to work for the Canadian mission from regions in the country close to the capital Kabul. It is widely recognized as critically humanitarian to see that these compromised Afghan citizens leave the country before the Taliban succeed in their mission to take complete control. At which time it is fairly well guaranteed that the fate of Afghan civilians who had seen fit to aid foreign missions and their militaries in fighting the Taliban will be victims of vengeance.

A group has been formed named Not Left Behind whose mission it is to do what they can for as many Afghans as they can manage to rescue from their untenable position as sitting ducks for the Taliban. While the government of Canada has repeatedly stated its intention to rescue approximately 235 people linked to the Canadian presence in Afghanistan as part of a UN-authorized, U.S.-led mission to capture Osama bin Laden and aid in rescuing Afghanistan from the Islamist talons of the Taliban, it has as yet done nothing practical and time is short.

The group was co-founded by the sister of Capt.Nichola Goddard, killed in 2006 while on a mission in Afghanistan, representing the first Canadian female member of the military to die in action. They have so far managed to expedite the safe transfer of 20 families in the last few days, from Afghanistan to Canada. Kate Rusk, sister of Captain Goddard, has been heavily involved in this rescue effort, hoping the government itself will be moved to step in and facilitate the immediate transfer of those awaiting rescue from a certain bleak future.

The group awaiting rescue represents interpreters along with staff who worked at the Kabul-based Canadian diplomatic mission, along with their vulnerable family members. Countries that fought the counter-insurgency have been called upon by Human Rights Watch to organize an orderly and swift rescue of those Afghans who were involved with their day-to-day work in the country, all of whom have been threatened with reprisals by the Taliban.

"I know even in the last number of weeks that the situation has gotten worse, that lives are on the line. The most important thing I want to convey with regards to this operation is that we know that Afghans put their own lives at risk by helping the Canadian effort in the war there, and we want to do right by them", said Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino. But the Afghans in question are still waiting for official Canadian governmental action on their behalf.

Control of large areas of Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban advance just in the three months since the U.S. announced its intention to remove remaining American forces. The Afghan National Military, without the support of their U.S. allies have been unable to counter the advance of the Taliban, who have already secured all border points with adjoining countries. 

Afghan civilians have fled across their borders with countries like Tajikistan seeking haven; others attempt to procure travel documents before Afghan security collapses entirely. Although the Afghan military and the national police have greater fighting numbers than the Taliban, morale problems beset their efficacy, a situation that has become more pronounced by recent Taliban advances, encountering little opposition.
"Mr. Trudeau, I am a father. My daughter is a year-and-a-half old. From one father to another, I beg you to please help me and my family to get out of Afghanistan before the Taliban find us."
"If Canada does not act immediately, me and my wife, my daughter, and my brothers will be captured by the Taliban. They will hang me, shoot me and cut my head off. They will kill my wife and daughter. They will kill my brothers … you promised me my family would one day come to Canada [and] enjoy the peace that your family enjoy every day."
Sayed Shah, former Afghan interpreter for Canadian Forces in Afghanistan
Taliban supporters
Supporters of the Taliban carry the Taliban's signature white flags in the Afghan-Pakistan border town of Chaman, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Tariq Achkzai)
 

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posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, July 21, 2021

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