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Former Canadian envoy says Ottawa should reopen mission in Afghanistan
Two of Canada’s former ambassadors to Afghanistan are debating whether it’s time to establish a diplomatic presence in Kabul, and how best to keep tabs on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA).
“There are ways for us to be on the ground and to see for ourselves, and to act for ourselves and act directly to help Afghans – without lending direct support to the Taliban (IEA),” former envoy Arif Lalani said in an interview this week.
“We should be able to decide for ourselves and inform others about what is really going on in Afghanistan. And the degree to which we can’t do that ourselves, I don’t think it does a service to anyone.”
Chris Alexander, a former Conservative foreign-affairs minister who also served as Canada’s ambassador in Kabul, meanwhile says that recognizing the IEA would compromise fundamental Canadian values, the Canadian Press reported.
“The cost would be too high, in terms of legitimizing an absolutely depraved regime,” he said Wednesday.
Lalani told the Senate’s foreign-affairs committee last month that the IEA “seems to have taken hostage an entire society, and our (Canada’s) response has been to neither use force nor to use diplomacy.”
“We are at a standstill, and Afghans are suffering. We actually need to take a decision.”
Lalani said Canada should be “looking at creative ways to find assistance to help Afghans” while understanding how countries like China, Russia and Iran are engaging with the IEA.
Lalani said Ottawa could better help individual Afghans sustain themselves economically, otherwise “what little economic development is taking place will slide backwards” as governments grapple to respond to multiple humanitarian crises worldwide.
“We have a government in Afghanistan that no one likes, that is doing incredible damage to its own population. But we need to now think about the Afghan people, as opposed to our own sense of outrage,” he said.
He also said if Canadians were to establish a presence in Afghanistan, it could in the form of “specific development programming” that has measured outcomes.
“The alternative is us sort of standing still from the sidelines and pretending that we’re going to do more,” he said.
“If we take that position, let’s please stop the selfies and hashtags and suggest we’re going to do more and we stand with Afghans, because we’re not.”
Afghanistan’s acting minister of public health Dr Qalandar Ebad, along with other officials, visited a number of flood-hit villages in Baghlan province on Tuesday.
The officials assessed damage in the villages of Sai Hazara and Gharo in the Guzargah district.
According to a statement issued by the ministry, Ebad inspected “vulnerable areas affected by recent floods and, expressing sympathy with the local people, promised that the leadership of the Ministry of Public Health will spare no effort to provide health services to those in need.”
Ebad also expressed gratitude for the efforts of healthcare workers and their commitment to helping people in need.
He directed officials to make every effort “to improve the health status of patients affected by recent floods in the villages of Sai Hazara and Gharo, Baghlan province”.
Based on official figures, more than 300 people have died as a result of floods in Baghlan province and over 1,600 others have been injured.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Monday that continued interventions by the US into the internal affairs of Afghanistan will complicate the country’s situation.
In a meeting in Tehran with the head of the UN in Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, Amir-Abdollahian said Iran closely follows the developments in Afghanistan and supports stability, security, and sustainable development in the neighboring country.
He also said Iran supports the role of the United Nations in helping the people of Afghanistan.
According to Iran’s Mehr News, Amir-Abdollahian raised the issue of Afghan nationals in Iran and urged the UN to address the situation.
He also reportedly criticized the US for its “destructive role in Afghanistan during its presence in the country”, noting that the continuation of targeted interventions by the US in the internal affairs of Afghanistan will complicate the situation further.
Amir-Abdollahian emphasized the need for diverse and multi-layered solutions to Afghanistan’s complex problems, Mehr News reported.
Otunbayeva in turn explained the latest developments and issues in Afghanistan and the upcoming Doha meeting in Qatar.
She also stressed the need to coordinate the diverse positions of regional players to help with the development and stability of the country.
Afghanistan is facing another set back at the United Nations after its General Assembly voting rights were suspended due to unpaid fees.
Nasir Faiq, who has acted as Afghanistan’s representative at the UN says that failure to settle outstanding dues since the Islamic Emirate’s takeover in August 2021 led to the organization’s decision.
As a result, Afghanistan was unable to exercise its right to vote at the recent General Assembly vote concerning the recognition of the State of Palestine.
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