Girl shot dead by Taliban while family was preparing to flee to Canada
Global News
The 10-year-old's family was approved to come to Canada but could not leave Afghanistan due to stalled evacuation efforts.
A 10-year-old girl was shot dead in Afghanistan while her family was preparing to flee to Canada under an immigration program for Afghans who worked for the Canadian Forces, multiple sources said Thursday.
The girl, Nazifa, was killed when gunfire erupted near a Taliban checkpoint in Kandahar on the night of Dec. 10, her father and the Canadian veterans group Aman Lara told Global News in interviews.
The father had worked for the Canadian military in Kandahar until 2011. The family was approved for resettlement by Canada, but was stuck in Afghanistan due to the lack of evacuation efforts.
“I can confirm this family did have approval to come to Canada, and they didn’t make it out in time, and it’s a very poignant example of what can happen,” said Kynan Walper, an Aman Lara spokesperson.
Nazifa’s father Bashir said his daughter was a top student and was learning English to prepare for her new life in Canada. (He asked to be identified only by his first name for safety reasons.)
She was returning from a family wedding at about 11 p.m. Friday when the car she was in cleared a Taliban checkpoint, but then came under fire. The vehicle hit a building and caught fire. Nazifa died instantly and three others were injured.
It’s unclear why the Taliban shot at the vehicle. Bashir said his family may have been targeted because he worked for the Canadian and U.S. forces, but there were also indications it was a result of Taliban negligence.
Bashir’s brother-in-law Mohammad said the driver of the vehicle thought he had been cleared to pass through the checkpoint, but when he died so, the Taliban started shooting.
The agency says more than 22,000 people have been removed from the country in the last 12 months, and nearly 30,000 removals were "in progress" as of Oct. 31.
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