Canada will settle more than 20,000 vulnerable Afghans amid Taliban attacks

The Taliban has taken control of most of Afghanistan. The situation there is getting serious day by day. Meanwhile, Canada plans to resettle more than 20,000 vulnerable Afghans, including women leaders, human rights activists and journalists, to protect them from Taliban retaliation. Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marco Mendicino gave this information.

He told reporters that this effort is in addition to earlier initiatives to welcome thousands of Afghans working for the Canadian government, such as interpreters, embassy staff and their families. He said that as the Taliban continued to occupy Afghanistan, the lives of many more Afghans were at increased risk.

Mendicino said Canada's new plan would focus on those who are particularly vulnerable, including women leaders, human rights defenders, journalists, persecuted religious minorities and members of the gay community.

He said that this includes both those who want to leave Afghanistan and those who are already in neighboring countries. The Taliban have taken control of Afghanistan's second and third largest cities, as government forces have been completely dismantled. Mendicino said that we know that the situation there is serious and it is getting worse every hour.

Simultaneously, Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said that Canada has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Manmeet Singh Bhullar Foundation to resettle a group of vulnerable Afghan Sikh and Hindu families from Afghanistan. Over the next several months we will expand this program to resettle several hundred remaining Sikhs and Hindus.