Canada To Admit Afghans Who Helped Its Defense Forces - Statement

TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2021) The government of Canada is announcing a resettlement program for those who cooperate with its defense forces in Afghanistan amid threats to their lives emanating from the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia), Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said in a release on Friday.

"The Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the Honorable Marc Garneau, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honorable Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of National Defense, today announced a special program to resettle the Afghans who were integral to Canada's efforts in Afghanistan," the release said. "In recognition of their service to Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is implementing special immigration measures that will offer a path to protection in Canada for those at risk due to their work."

Interpreters who worked with the Canadian armed forces, cooks, drivers, cleaners, construction workers, security guards and local staff employed at the Embassy of Canada to Afghanistan who can prove their "enduring relationship" with the government of Canada as well as their family members will be eligible for resettlement in Canada under the new program, the release said.

On July 16, the Canadian Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said that the government was working to assist Afghan interpreters who are facing imminent danger as the US withdrawal from Afghanistan nears end while Canada was out of the Afghan war in 2014.

The faith of those who assisted the allied forces in Afghanistan over the course of the last two decades is also a hot topic in the US where the initial group of 2,500 will soon be housed at the military bases, while up to 35,000 of Afghan interpreters and their family members will be settled at US bases in Kuwait and Qatar.