Canada, Leaving Afghans in the Lurch of Taliban Vengeance

"In Afghanistan, there is the risk of detention and prosecution for those who want to get a passport under the Taliban."

"Those who worked for the Canadian government and international partners -- the risk is always there."

"We wish and we hope there will be a more flexible approach when it comes to documentation inside Afghanistan and also the paperwork that is required in terms of bringing people to 

Canada."

"Women are being gradually but systematically erased from public life. They are denied access to education, they are not able to work, they cannot protest — it means they gradually become invisible." 

"Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are denied a secondary education."

"I am very much hopeful that the outcome will help with a kind of solution that will help with the humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, without helping the Taliban consolidate their power, without legitimizing the Taliban."

"[he Taliban are becoming increasingly hard-line and  not a moderate or more inclusive version of the previous regime; they are] the same old Taliban — they have not changed."

Hassan Soroosh, Afghan Ambassador to Canada 

Ambassador of Afghanistan to Canada Hassan Soroosh stands outside the Embassy of The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Ottawa, on Thursday, July 7, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Clearly this fearless man is not speaking on behalf of the current government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, but is reflecting the sensibilities of the previous Afghan government which gave him his appointment to represent the country in Canada. He dare not himself return to his country of origin as long as the Taliban remain in power, but his concerns are for fellow Afghan civilians and those whose lives are in danger under the present regime. His office continues to represent the interests of Afghan citizens outside Afghanistan requiring consular assistance.

And he is extremely concerned over the plight of people whom the government of Canada pledged it would extend security to as a recompense for their services to the Canadian diplomat corps, Canadian servicemen and Canadian charitable groups as translators and office workers while Canada deployed its troops along with other NATO countries in the U.S.-led mission to the country in an effort to ward off the Taliban, combat members of al-Qaeda and help the country modernize itself toward democracy and the upgrades of civic installations.

 

Taliban fighters stand guard at the site of an explosion in front of a Sikh temple in Kabul, Afghanistan on June 18. (Ebrahim Noroozi/The Associated Press)

 

Canada is one of the few countries involved in Afghanistan that has failed to honour its promise to withdraw vulnerable Afghans from the repressive threatening searches of the Taliban for people who they claimed 'betrayed' Islamic values by befriending and assisting foreign countries that invaded Afghanistan to free it from the first restrictive and oppressively violent Taliban rule. While other countries devised ways to extract those who gave aid to their military, those awaiting Canada's promise to be fulfilled remain in danger.

Canadian veterans' groups who worked with Afghan volunteers and workers as well as Canadian humanitarian charitable groups and members of the Canadian political opposition have all called upon the ruling Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to live up to Canada's obligations, to no avail. Complex paperwork must be completed, and special visas approved in a long, drawn-out process that leaves vulnerable people in danger. The year that has passed since the pullout of Western countries leaving the population of Afghanistan at the mercy of the Taliban has failed to convince the Canadian government of the urgency for it to act.

 

Painda Mohammad Noori, a former schoolmaster, died of a heart attack in Pakistan while his family waited for news in Islamabad about when they might be able to travel to Canada. (Submitted/Jamil Ahmad Noori )

 

Ambassador Soroosh emphasizes that those Afghans who committed to helping Canada prior to the Taliban's return have been left in a state of "high vulnerability", calling on Canada to widen the eligibility criteria for arrival to Canada under a humanitarian program meant to expedite vulnerable Afghans to Canada who face Taliban persecution. A need also exists, he emphasized, to provide Canadian charities aiding Afghans with needed paperwork to enable them to get on with their work.

Some Afghans awaiting final paperwork to enable them to board flights to Canada were able to leave Afghanistan to take up temporary haven in Pakistan on visas that have now expired. Leaving them at real risk of being involuntarily returned to Afghanistan and Taliban reprisals. Aidan Strickland, a spokeswoman for Canada's Immigration Minister, gave assurances that her department "can help facilitate travel to Pakistan", but not, unfortunately 'facilitate travel to Canada'.

A group of Afghans seeking to come to Canada on special immigration measures for former employees of the government and their families, hold a protest over travel delays in Islamabad on Canadian consular grounds in early May. (Submitted/Asad Ali Afghan )