Time running short for Afghans hoping for refuge in Canada

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Thousands of Afghans fleeing the Taliban are growing increasingly desperate for any sort of lifeline that can bring them to safety.

An estimated 1,700 men, women and children destined for Canada are currently holed up in safe houses across Afghanistan, where they are fearful for their lives after helping the Canadian Armed Forces in the Afghanistan war.

“If he gets me, yeah, they will kill us, because he knows about us,” said one Afghan man, who is notbeing named for safety reasons.

As he and thousands of others are pleading for help, there are few resources at there disposal in Canada and on the ground after Canada’s embassy suspended operations on Aug. 15.

The Veterans Transition Network (VTN), which has been raising money to help the Afghan interpreters, says money is running out and they have yet to receive any support from the federal government.

“We have raised $1.7 million privately, we have spent $1.4 million of that money,” said retired Maj.-Gen. Denis Thompson.

Thompson said with the organization’s current burn rate, it only has a few weeks left to help before the money runs out.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada said the agency is “in close contact” with the VTN and is “working to support their efforts to protect vulnerable persons in Afghanistan including human rights defenders, women peacebuilders, former Canadian Armed Forces interpreters and locally engaged staff.”

The Canadian government has also provided $27.3 million in “humanitarian assistance” for Afghanistan in 2021.

For Beazhan, who worked for a non-government organization linked with Canada, the VTN was crucial for his escape from Afghanistan.

“They are having high human dignity and offering us a lot of support,” he said.

Beazhan and his family are now safe and in a different country, where his niece was born two days after crossing the border.

“We were in Kabul, we were counting nine and a half, now we are 10 (people),” he said.

Canada has committed to welcoming 40,000 Afghans into the country. These are people and their loved ones who helped Canada during the Afghanistan war, including interpreters and other support staff.

“All the people that are trying to get out are the cream of the crop of Afghanistan and they will add greatly to this country if we can just get them here,” Thompson said.

Global Affairs Canada would not disclose how many Afghans have since been resettled in Canada, citing “security considerations.”

There is a glimmer of hope for those still stuck in Afghanistan, however, as the Taliban announced on Tuesday that it would reopen its passport office, with a plan to produce up to 6,000 passports per day.

With files from The Canadian Press