Afghans Who Helped Canadian Forces Are Being Betrayed and Left Behind

This article originally appeared in VICE Canada.

An unwritten rule of war states that no soldier shall be left behind. It seems that the rule doesn’t apply to interpreters and other Afghan civilian workers whom, while technically not soldiers, made a crucial difference on the ground and risked their lives as much as the fighters they worked with. This is an issue that’s been extensively covered when it comes to the American military’s oft-controversial relationship with the translators who assist them in the battlefield, but it’s a complex issue that’s rarely reported on when it comes to the Canadian military.

In October 2009, the Canadian government recognized the risks that interpreters face and implemented the Immigration Special Measures Program, so that Afghans who collaborated with the Canadian Forces during the country’s military stint in war-torn Kandahar would receive special consideration if they wished to relocate to Canada. Canadian troops were first deployed in January 2002 for a six-month combat tour—then returned in 2005 after spending two years patrolling Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, as part of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The Canadian government ordered the troops out of Kandahar in July 2011, and the small 950-strong force that stayed behind in Kabul to train Afghan security forces has been gradually returning home with a March 31st, 2014 deadline, marking the end of Canada’s military presence in Afghanistan.

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The program was aimed at facilitating the immigration of approximately 800 Afghans and their families, which is well over Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (CIC) estimate of 550 applicants. When contacted, the federal department couldn’t, however, precisely state how many of them successfully came to Canada by the end of the program in July 2011.

BROKEN PROMISES

For some former workers, the program became synonymous with broken promises and a sense of betrayal. Such is the case of 28 year-old Aziz, who recalls his time siding with Canadian troops on the battlefield, while sipping tea in the garden of an undisclosed location near Kandahar City. Taliban insurgents are constantly on the lookout for “traitors” like Aziz who helped foreign soldiers drive Taliban fighters out of their position, which helped lead to military defeat after military defeat.

Aziz helped the Canadian forces by continually listening to intercepted Taliban radio chatter, and sometimes hearing fighters yelling out their fear while fleeing a Canadian infantry company’s advance on a village. Translators like him also helped military commanders establish links with local Afghan leaders, by translating conversations and acting as cultural advisors. Aziz mostly worked with Kandahar’s Provincial Reconstruction Team, a civilian-military outfit charged with managing rebuilding projects in Kandahar. He started working there as an interpreter in 2007 until 2011.

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Aziz applied to the immigration program right away, and his employer wrote him a letter of recommendation, which should have guaranteed his acceptance. “I was already threatened. Masked bikers were following me around as soon as I was getting out of the Canadian camp. And I never trusted the police with helping me,” he said.

Three years later and the threats keep coming, with devastating effects on his well-being: “I feel constantly watched. I get scared when I see someone staring at me while talking on the phone.” His family also receives death threats and is forced to live with his in-laws in a fortified residence on the outskirts of Kandahar City. “I must go hide in other provinces where I stay with friends. I also had to flee to Pakistan for three months. I travel hundreds of kilometers every year and most of the money I earned during my work with the Canadians was spent trying to stay alive,” Aziz said. Interpreters working with Canadian troops earned close to $1,000 CAD a month, in a country where the annual gross national income is under $700 per capita.

Still, he’s unable to come to Canada. As of January 2014, he’s working towards a fourth attempt to immigrate. While the lives of Aziz and his colleagues remain in constant danger, Citizenship and Immigration Canada remains vague on why some Afghans are denied immigration. They insist that Afghan applicants must document the reasons why they feel threatened. The federal department also added in an email that a special committee evaluates whether or not the risks taken by Afghan workers are legitimate, after reviewing their application files. “I don’t understand. The simple fact that I worked for the Canadians should be enough to justify my acceptance,” said Aziz.

When I reached out, the CIC didn’t want to comment any further, but NDP immigration critic Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe finds the situation unacceptable. “The end of the special measures program is not an excuse to leave those Afghans behind,” she said. “They risked their lives alongside our soldiers. The government must keep their promise.”

A similar situation is currently plaguing 20-something Ali Ahmad, a young Kandahari who worked as a kitchen assistant in a Canadian army camp. His cousin Abdul also worked a similar position at Kandahar Air Field, the large multinational military base built around Kandahar International Airport and ISAF’s southern Afghanistan headquarters. Reached through email, he mentions trying to contact Canadian diplomatic authorities many times at the country’s Kabul and Islamabad embassies only to be stopped at the gates every time.

He also claims to receive night letters on a regular basis from the Taliban. Such letters are a form of psychological weapon, a propaganda tool used to strike fear upon their intended targets. According to him, the threats have been less frequent lately, but the damage has been done and he feels no longer safe unless he can seek refuge in the country for which he risked his life.

It’s hard to determine how many Afghan civilian workers have been killed or at least attacked by the Taliban, but the Taliban does regularly post statements on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s official website—the Emirate being Afghanistan’s Taliban-run shadow government. Their English website features press releases highlighting insurgent activity and attacks on foreign troops, and their “Afghan traitors” or “government puppets.” The Emirate’s Twitter account features similar statement, though they also serve Taliban propaganda efforts and might include disinformation elements.

In the meantime, Aziz and Ali will keep evading danger and threats from the Taliban, while a federal government committee from the country they risked their lives for, slowly decides their fate.