‘They need rescue’: Afghan activists desperate to bring families to Canada

Activists who fled Afghanistan for asylum in Canada are frantic to get their families out after the pandemic slowed Canada’s sluggish refugee reunification process, leaving them stranded and at risk of Taliban retribution for their work, refugees and advocates said.

The families, mainly young children and spouses, would almost definitely be approved to come to Canada, immigration experts said, but the bureaucratic process for reunification takes an average of three years and two months, according to the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR).

As U.S.-led forces withdrew from Afghanistan after 20 years, the Taliban seized control in days as government forces, trained and equipped by the United States and others, melted away. Canada was part of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 but ended its combat role in 2011 and withdrew all of its troops by 2014.

The Taliban struck a dovish tone on Tuesday, promising to respect women’s rights and protect people. But many Afghans fear the Islamist militants will return to the harsh practices of their 1996-2001 rule, when women were not allowed to work and punishments such as public stoning were administered.

One woman, who worked in women’s rights and reproductive health, fled to Canada two years ago due to threats against her. Her husband and four children remained in Kabul and she fears they will be targeted by the militants because of her work.

When she spoke with her oldest daughter on Monday, “she asked me, ‘Mother, will the Taliban let me live long enough to kiss you again, to hug you again?’ For a mother this is very, very painful,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified.

“‘When the Taliban reach me, before they reach to my home, I want to kill myself.’ For Afghan people, for my daughter, she is thinking about killing herself instead of forced marriage,” the woman said through tears. “If I lost one of my family members I can’t think how I will be alive. They need rescue.”