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Ali Mirzad is an Ottawa-based Hazara human rights activist.

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The Hazaras are an indigenous people whose history predates the creation of the modern state of Afghanistan.Bram Janssen/The Associated Press

On the morning of Aug. 15, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked Governor-General Mary Simon for the dissolution of Canada’s 43rd Parliament so Canadians could head to the polls. That meant that the government’s prepause promises – including a vow to resettle 20,000 of Afghanistan’s at risk and most vulnerable to Canada – were put on hiatus so that the country could gear up for a federal election.

But the world, of course, did not wait. Indeed, on the same day Mr. Trudeau announced the election in front of Rideau Hall, Afghanistan’s then-president Ashraf Ghani – the ethnocrat-in-chief and author of a book about fixing failed states – effectively surrendered the country to the Taliban by fleeing.

The fall of Afghanistan may have been all but inevitable ever since former U.S. president Donald Trump’s administration signed an infamous deal with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, in February of 2020, negotiating a date for America’s exit from what had been called the Forever War. But the ensuing apocalyptic chaos and humanitarian crisis that has since unfolded, especially given how much time the West had to manage it, was entirely avoidable. The Doha agreement, which was conditional upon Kabul releasing 5,000 Taliban predators, was in effect a death warrant for women, girls and vulnerable groups – particularly the Hazaras.

The Hazaras are an indigenous people whose history predates the creation of the modern state of Afghanistan. But because of their distinct Asiatic facial features and religious beliefs, Hazaras have long been considered outcasts and infidel heretics, for which they have been punished by more than a century and a half of unjust physical, mental and psychological abuse. In the late 19th century, through dictator Abdul Rahman Khan’s genocidal campaign, a vast number of Hazaras were slaughtered while many thousands more were forcefully displaced and enslaved. Then, in the 1990s, they were the subject of yet another ethnic cleansing campaign, this time by the Taliban. At the time, Human Rights Watch estimated that as many as 8,000 Hazaras were rounded up and butchered in the cities of Mazar-e-Sharif and Bamiyan alone.

Now, replenished with 5,000 new troops courtesy of Mr. Trump’s Doha deal, the Taliban have returned to power, looting, raping and killing indiscriminately, while targeting the same vulnerable groups that Mr. Trudeau vowed to rescue three long months ago.

The re-elected Liberal government has since increased the number of people it hopes to resettle to 40,000. But this remains an unfulfilled political promise for the many vulnerable people still desperate for safety in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan or the refugees who remain despairing across neighbouring borders.

The Trudeau government should know full well how important it is that they act soon. On June 22, through the Canadian Hazara Humanitarian Services (CHHS) – an NGO representing the Hazaras of Canada – the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights (SDIR) heard testimonies about the Hazaras’ long history of persecution, and of the threats that still would loom if the Taliban took over again. “While the Taliban are the world’s least feminist group, they aren’t going to kill every woman in Afghanistan,” William Maley, emeritus professor at the Australian National University, told the SDIR committee at the time. “But they are capable of trying to kill all the Sikhs, Hindus and Hazaras.”

That warning has since been borne out. Since August, Amnesty International has repeatedly reported atrocities toward the Hazaras. On Oct. 22, Human Rights Watch reported forceful and mass displacement of Hazaras from their lands and homes across central Afghanistan. Hundreds if not thousands of Hazara families have been forced to take refuge in the mountains, where they face unforgiving winter weather.

Meanwhile, Canada is struggling to meet its resettlement goals. In a recent interview with The Globe and Mail, a spokesperson for newly appointed Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said the government faces an “unprecedented” challenge and that the “major hurdle” in getting people out of Afghanistan is the Taliban’s control over all exit points.

In short, it sounds like there is a need for political will. But the Liberal government should know about that too. In 2015, Mr. Trudeau – then the leader of the third-party Liberals – committed to welcoming 25,000 Syrians within his first days in office if his party was elected. He eventually delivered on that promise when the Liberals won a landslide majority, despite all the bureaucratic and logistical challenges. As the saying goes, where there’s a will, there is a way.

This performance was nothing short of laudable. But it also set a high standard. The Hazaras, who are the very embodiment of the Liberal government’s “vulnerable at-risk” category, are now desperately waiting for Canada to summon that same will and walk the talk. Parliament is back in session, so there can be no more excuses. The Hazaras cannot wait much longer.

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