Canada To Take In 20,000 Afghan Refugees, Focus On Women Leaders & Human Rights Workers

Canada announced that it will be taking in 20,000 vulnerable refugees from Afghanistan, who face a direct threat from the rapid Taliban offensive in recent weeks.

Programme to resettle the refugees

Announcing the federal government's decision to expand a programme to resettle the refugees, Canadian immigration minister Marco Mendicino said the focus will be on those who belong to groups vulnerable to persecution by the Taliban such as women leaders, human rights workers and reporters.

The announcement came on the heels of repeated calls to the Canadian government to help Afghan nationals that have assisted Canada over the course of the War in Afghanistan.

AFP

Many of the Afghans, including their families, face retribution by the Taliban ¡ª whose forces have continued to sweep across and capture large parts of the country with alarming speed.

"Many more Afghans' lives are under increasing threat"

¡°As the Taliban continues to take over more of Afghanistan, many more Afghans¡¯ lives are under increasing threat,¡± said Mendicino, who did not provide a timetable of the resettling efforts during the press conference.

In response to a question from reporters, Mendicino confirmed that the expanded resettlement efforts would only include Afghans that have already left the country.

While the announcement did not include information on whether they would evacuate Afghan nationals still in the country, Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau said that there were still a number of Canadian flights ¡°that have come, and there are more coming.¡±

Reuters

Canada's defence minister Harjit Sajjan also said that the country has signed an MoU with the Manmeet Singh Bhullar foundation to resettle a group of vulnerable Afghan Sikh and Hindu families out of Afghanistan. ¡°Over the next several months, we will expand this programme to resettle several hundred remaining Sikhs and Hindus,¡± the minister said.

Several countries, including Spain, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands announced on Friday that they will be withdrawing staff from their respective embassies in Afghanistan, as the fall of Kabul looks more and more likely with each passing day.

Canada has said it is monitoring the situation in Afghanistan "very closely" and working with its allies on the ground to protect the Canadian embassy and the staff working there.

Reuters

Taliban's advance in Afghanistan

The Taliban made rapid advances in Afghanistan this week, toppling six provincial capitals in 24 hours. According to news agencies citing the local media, the insurgents seized both the second and the third biggest cities in the country on Friday, as resistance from government forces crumbled and fears grew that an assault on the capital Kabul could be just days away.

Kandahar, the economic hub of the south, is now under Taliban control. Herat in the west has also fallen to the hardline Islamist group, reports said.

AP

The Taliban is reported to have been looting people and killing civilians indiscriminately with their offensive taking an especially ruthless turn. As the security situation worsens, the Afghan people are leaving their homes to reach relatively safer places.