Afghanistan envoy defying Taliban to keep Canadian embassy running

Hassan Soroosh says the Taliban is dismantling two decades of gains for women in Afghanistan and bringing back some of the most repressive measures from the 1990s.

Afghanistan’s pre-Taliban envoy has kept his country’s Ottawa embassy running in the hopes that democracy will eventually return to his homeland, as he asks Canadians to fight “gender apartheid.”

“There is a need for greater advocacy efforts in support of women and girls in Afghanistan,” said Hassan Soroosh, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

The Taliban has tried to rename the country, calling it the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since it seized Kabul in August 2021, but it remains a globally unrecognized government.

That leaves Soroosh providing consular services and advocating for Afghans everywhere. As of late, that’s included pushing the Trudeau government to lift legal prohibitions on delivering Canadian humanitarian aid in the country.

“In terms of number and gravity, we are still having the largest humanitarian crisis globally in Afghanistan; 28 million people are in need of humanitarian help,” he said.

“Canada has always been one of the first countries to respond to humanitarian emergencies in Afghanistan.”

Humanitarian groups say Global Affairs Canada has told them that purchasing goods or hiring locals in Afghanistan would involve paying taxes to the Taliban, which might be considered under the Criminal Code as contributing to a terror group.

That advice was given despite a cascade of humanitarian crises, from a collapsing health-care system to soaring rates of child malnutrition.