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Early Monday morning, the Taliban, having taken control of the presidential palace in Kabul, announced that the war in Afghanistan had ended. It took the Taliban just over a week to seize control after a lightning sweep through the country amid an American withdrawal of troops.
On Sunday, the Taliban captured the Afghan capital of Kabul as President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, signalling the end of a costly two-decade U.S. campaign to remake the country.
As the militants entered the capital, Ottawa announced that it was “temporarily” suspending its diplomatic operations in Kabul as Canadian Armed Forces evacuated embassy staff.
This brings to attention the effort by a group of Canadian veterans and volunteers who have been working to get Afghan interpreters, who worked with the Canadian military, into Kabul safe houses while they wait for flights to Canada. Veterans now say that the situation is desperate and they are appealing for help from the Canadian government.
First person: A fearful silence descends on Afghanistan
Audio: Listen to three Afghans describing the dangerous situation in Kabul as the Taliban takes control
Explainer: The Taliban are reconquering Afghanistan. How did we get here?
Analysis: Who is to blame for the loss in Afghanistan?
Read more: As the Taliban retakes Afghanistan, Canadian military veterans look on with frustration and sorrow
Taliban fighters take control of Afghan presidential palace after the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15.Zabi Karimi/The Associated Press
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Trudeau triggers election campaign, vote to be held Sept. 20
On Sunday, Justin Trudeau visited newly minted Governor-General Mary Simon at Rideau Hall to ask for the dissolution of the minority Parliament – triggering a 36-day election campaign with voting day scheduled for Sept. 20. Trudeau is seeking to gain a majority government on the strength of the Liberal government’s record in managing the COVID-19 pandemic and promising to guide the country through a recovery. Opposition party leaders, however, were critical of his decision to call an election during the fourth wave of a pandemic.
Erin O’Toole, launching his first election campaign as Leader, is casting himself as an agent of change for a Conservative Party seeking a path back to government after six years out of power. Meanwhile, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh hopes to lure progressive voters away from the Liberals by building on his growing popularity and his promise to tax the ultrarich to help pay for everything from national pharmacare to clean drinking water on Indigenous reserves.
Explainer: Latest updates and essential reading ahead of Sept. 20 vote
Read more: Party challenges and strategies for the 2021 federal election
Opinion: Trudeau sets out to win the day but leaves the future of Canada for another time
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Deadly Haiti earthquake: On Saturday, Haiti was hit with a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that has left at least 1,297 dead and 5,700 injured. The devastation could soon worsen with the coming of Tropical Depression Grace, which is predicted to reach Haiti on Monday night. The country has already been grappling with COVID-19, a presidential assassination and a wave of gang violence. On a Decibel podcast, researcher Jake Johnston discusses Haiti and the failed promise of foreign aid.
Michael Spavor verdict: Michael Spavor has been handed an 11-year prison sentence on espionage charges in China, which gives some hope for his future release – but it also shows Canada’s powerlessness in the face of injustice, writes Asia correspondent James Griffiths. On the latest Decibel podcast, Griffiths breaks down the politics at play between China, the U.S., Canada and Iran to untangle the threads that link the cases of Spavor, Michael Kovrig, and Meng Wanzhou.
Canada buying millions more Moderna doses: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will buy another 40 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine over the next two years. Earlier in the week, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with the federal government that will see Canada play host to Moderna’s first foreign operation.
The growing risk of ransomware hackers: When a Canadian engineering company learned hackers were demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars to release its data, it called in a SWAT team of ransomware negotiators. But with such attacks on the rise, governments, insurers and cybersecurity experts are scrambling to stop these bad actors before they take any more companies hostage, writes Joe Castaldo.
COVID-19 income support: Why are millions still on COVID income support? It’s complicated, writes Matt Lundy.
MORNING MARKETS
Global shares slide: Global shares slipped Monday amid worries over surging coronavirus infections in Asia as well as concerns about the long-term impact from the Afghan government’s collapse. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.93 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.54 per cent and 0.84 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei lost 1.62 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.80 per cent. New York futures were weaker. The Canadian dollar was trading at 79.71 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Canadians didn’t ask for an election. But like the pandemic, here it is
“Friday’s announcement had the quality of pandemic-fighting by polls – as domestic vaccine mandates and passports, good public-health strategies the Liberals ignored for months while in government, appeared to have been suddenly identified as potential campaign wedge issues, and instantly transformed into urgent pre-election action items.” -Editorial board
Trudeau’s federal government is bigger, bolder and more controlling. Is that what you want?
“Mr. Trudeau has already reshaped the federal government into what he believes it should be: bigger, bolder, more controlling. He has also left us divided and deeply in debt. Now we’ll find out whether Canadians want to give him one last chance to finish the job.” -John Ibbitson
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
David Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
My son isn’t like everyone else, but he still needs a welcoming place to live on his own
“Paul is one of thousands of individuals living with a disability who are now more invisible than ever, experiencing even more losses, and living in increasing isolation,” writes Lucinda Hage. “My son has the same basic human need to belong as every one of us. If it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes a community to house us as adults. How much richer our communities would be if we understood the benefits of living with diversity and sharing the gifts it brings.”
MOMENT IN TIME: 1986
Female firefighters
Dianne Oland, the City of Toronto's first woman firefighter, nears top of scaling ladders climbing wall during training session at the Toronto Fire Academy, March 30, 1986.Dennis Robinson/The Globe and Mail
Women have likely been dousing flames since the moment fire was invented. But it’s only in the past 200 years, spurred by the number of women in fire brigades in the Second World War, that it’s no longer a novelty to have professional female firefighters. In some places there were all-women fire companies, as full integration didn’t start until the 1970s. In this Globe and Mail photo from 1986, Dennis Robinson shows Dianne Oland training to be Toronto’s first female smoke eater. She wasn’t the first woman in Canada to send the gender-based job description of “fireman” into the dustbin of history; that was Karen Morrison, a firefighter in Windsor, Ont., about three years previously. Oland, who became Dianne Oland Graham, retired after a 21-year career. However, the path she blazed is still not widely travelled. Less than 5 per cent of firefighters in Canada are women. Philip King
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