OTTAWA —
Canadian special forces are currently operating outside the walls of Kabul airport, Canadian officials revealed Monday, working to get people on flights out of Afghanistan.
The news comes one day before a special G7 leaders’ meeting is to be held to address the ongoing crisis.
CTV News has confirmed that forces have convened only a short distance away from the airport, in a designated holding zone where Afghans on their way to Canada are assembling.
At one airport entry gate, Canadian troops have scanned the crowd for Afghans wearing red – a colour those accepted for Canadian flights were told to wear.
Once they’ve made it through the danger and chaos on the streets just beyond, Canadians meet them to offer some reassurance.
Officials said Monday that a Canadian C-17 Globemaster took 436 people out of Kabul airport on Sunday night, up from the 121 airlifted the day before. The plane carried Canadian citizens and family members, as well as Afghan nationals who had been approved for resettlement by Canada and its allies.
“We are having success getting folks into HKIA in significant numbers, which has been a significant improvement over the last few days,” one official told The Canadian Press, using the acronym for Hamid Karzai International Airport.
The pace of evacuations out of Kabul is picking up after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban last week. The U.S. military says in the last 24 hours 16,000 people were flown out on 89 planes, a combination of military and charter flights. Even so, U.S. president Joe Biden is under tremendous pressure from America’s allies to extend his Aug. 31 pullout deadline.
There are still many thousands desperate to leave Afghanistan. Footage from Afghanistan shows people standing in knee deep water outside the Kabul airport, waving their documents for Germany.
In one clip, a woman is pulled out of the crowd and safely over a wall. The fear is that many other Afghans at risk will be left behind.
Many Afghans who worked as interpreters for Western military forces and news agencies are now in hiding, terrified that they and their families could be targeted by the Taliban. Other vulnerable Afghans include human rights activists, politicians, journalists and others who fear that they could be in the crosshairs for their work in the country over the last two decades. Female journalists and politicians who have been outspoken against the Taliban have been frantically deleting online traces of themselves and trying to stay out of sight.
Thousands have been exposed to the threat of violent retaliation.
“Our forces on the ground have all the necessary authorizations to do what they feel is necessary to save as many people as quickly as possible,” Prime Minister and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said Monday in Halifax during a federal election campaign appearance.
A virtual G7 meeting, convened by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, will be held on Tuesday to discuss how to address the crisis.
“When we have our G7 leaders meeting shortly, we will certainly be talking about what more we can do and must do,” Trudeau said.
He has said that Canada’s focus is retrieving our troops, citizens and those with direct connections to Canada, but has said he would like to help more.
“We are also very interested in activists and human rights leaders, journalists and people who over the past many years have fought and delivered improvements for people in Afghanistan,” Trudeau said. “We know those people need to be brought to safety. And we, alongside our allies, will be doing everything we can for all the categories.”
But facing an end of August deadline, there simply may not be enough time to complete this frantic airlift.
America’s allies are pushing the U.S. to stay longer — a topic expected to come up in the G7 meeting.
“If their timetable extends, even by a day or two, then that will give us a day or two more to evacuate people because we are really down to hours now, not weeks,” Ben Wallace, British Defence Minister, said of the situation.
The Taliban have stood back and let the Americans take over the airport thus far.
But a spokesperson for the Taliban has said there is no patience for extending the evacuation.
“President Biden announced this agreement that until 31st of August, they would withdraw all their military forces,” Suhail Shaheen said. “So if they extended, that means they are extending occupation.”
Taliban leaders deny that people are running away out of fear, saying it’s to escape Afghanistan’s wretched poverty.
So far, officials say Canada has evacuated 1,700 people in total across 13 flights, four of which have occurred since last Thursday when the Kabul airport was secured. Around 300 Afghans have completed their COVID-19 quarantine and will be resettling in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
The head of the Canadian branch of the organization Save The Children said Monday that more needs to be done to evacuate young people from Afghanistan, calling on world leaders to step up.
“Though Canada has already announced a resettlement program, it is important that evacuation efforts are not hampered due to bureaucratic red tape as the situation demands urgent action,” Danny Glenwright, the organization’s president, said.
The U.S. still believes it can finish the evacuation by Aug. 31, a little over a week away. But crucially, the U.S. has not entirely closed the door on staying longer.
With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
MILAN (AP) — Bologna’s preparations for its Champions League debut are not going well though it managed to spoil Como’s first Serie A home match in 21 years on Saturday.
Bologna came from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw to gather three points from its opening four matches.
Bologna hosts Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday. Its only other appearance in Europe’s top competition was in 1964 in the preliminary round of the old European Cup.
AC Milan is also winless as it prepares for a Tuesday Champions League match against Liverpool. The Rossoneri hosted promoted Venezia later. Juventus drew at Empoli 0-0.
Como made a great start in the fifth minute when Patrick Cutrone attempted to roll the ball across the six-yard box but it took a huge deflection off Bologna defender Nicolò Casale for an own goal.
Bologna thought it was gifted a way back into the match on the stroke of halftime when referee Marco Piccinini signalled for a penalty following an Alberto Moreno handball, but he revoked his decision and instead gave a free kick because the handball was just outside the area.
Bologna improved after the break but found itself further behind when Cutrone raced onto a through ball and cut inside past a defender and fired into the far bottom corner.
Tommaso Pobega hit the post for Bologna, which finally pulled one back in the 76th through substitute Santiago Castro.
Another substitute helped the visitors snatch a point when Samuel Iling-Junior curled a fine strike into the top left corner in stoppage time.
Unbeaten sides
Juventus, and more surprisingly Empoli, are among six unbeaten sides.
Empoli held Monza and Bologna to draws either side of a shock 2-1 win at Roma. Juventus’ perfect start to the season was ruined by Roma in a goalless draw before the international break.
On Saturday, there were few clearcut chances in Empoli although home goalkeeper Devis Vásquez made spectacular saves to fingertip out a Federico Gatti header and deny Dusan Vlahovic in a one on one with the Juventus forward.
Empoli had a good opportunity in the 73rd minute following an Alberto Grassi one-two with Pietro Pellegri but the finish was straight at Mattia Perin.
The host could have won it right at the death but Gatti flew in with a great sliding block to keep out Emanuel Gyasi’s close-range effort.
Juventus hosts PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Tuesday.
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Not good enough. That was Arne Slot’s verdict after his first defeat as Liverpool manager on Saturday.
A shock 1-0 loss at home to Nottingham Forest in the English Premier League ended Slot’s perfect record since succeeding Jurgen Klopp at Anfield at the end of last season.
“We had a lot of ball possession but only managed to create three (or) four quite good chances, so that is by far not enough if you have so much ball possession,” said the Dutchman, who suggested his team should not be losing to the likes of Forest.
“If you lose a home game it’s always a setback, especially if you face a team … we never know, maybe they will go all the way to fight for Champions League tickets, but normally this team is not ending up in the top 10, so if you lose a game against them that’s a big disappointment.”
Slot won his first three games in charge, including a memorable 3-0 victory against Manchester United before the international break.
But that run came to an end after Callum Hudson-Odoi struck in the 72nd with a curling effort from the edge of the box and beyond goalkeeper Alisson.
Liverpool’s defeat leaves Manchester City as the only team with a 100% record in the league after a 2-1 win against Brentford kept the defending champion at the top of the table.
United won at Southampton 3-0 to end its two-game losing streak.
Unstoppable Haaland
Erling Haaland moved to 99 goals for City after scoring twice against Brentford.
The Norwegian’s double came after Yoane Wissa fired Brentford ahead with just 22 seconds on the clock.
Haaland scored his 98th and 99th goals in his 103rd City appearance in all competitions. And he was the width of the post away from his third consecutive hat trick after trebles against Ipswich and West Ham.
“He’s been really, really good. Yeah, I would say he’s the best (he’s been), but it’s only four fixtures (this season),” City manager Pep Guardiola said.
Haaland, who has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or, has nine goals in four league games. He has topped the league scoring charts in each of his two seasons at City since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2022 for $63 million.
Haaland’s first goal after 19 minutes evened the game following Wissa’s opener, which stunned the Etihad Stadium crowd. Haaland turned and swept a shot past goalkeeper Mark Flekken after a slight deflection off Ethan Pinnock.
He was then too strong for Pinnock when shaking off the defender and running through for his second in the 32nd.
He was inches away in the 81st; the shot came back off the post after beating the keeper.
Rashford snaps run
Marcus Rashford snapped a 12-game barren run in front of goal as United beat Southampton.
Rashford doubled United’s lead at Saint Mary’s after Matthijs de Ligt’s scored his first for the club. Substitute Alejandro Garnacho scored a third in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
The win came after back-to-back defeats for United.
Rashford hadn’t scored since March in United’s win over Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals. He curled in a shot from the edge of the area to put Erik ten Hag’s team 2-0 up at Southampton in the 41st minute.
Ten Hag said it could be a turning point for the forward.
“For every striker, they want to be on the scoring list. Once the first is in, more is coming. Like a ketchup bottle, once it’s going, it’s coming more,” he said.
De Ligt, who joined United from Bayern Munich in the offseason, headed in from Bruno Fernandes’ cross in the 35th.
It could have been a different story if Cameron Archer converted a penalty for Southampton in the 33rd. Instead, his effort was saved by goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Newly promoted Southampton was reduced to 10 men when Jack Stephens was sent off in the 79th for a high challenge on Garnacho.
Villa comeback
After three straight defeats to start the league, Everton looked set for its first win when leading Aston Villa 2-0.
Goals from Dwight McNeil and Dominic Calvert-Lewin put Sean Dyche’s team in control until Ollie Watkins struck twice to even the game.
Jhon Duran completed Villa’s comeback and sealed a 3-2 win in the 76th to leave Everton rooted to the bottom of the table and the only top flight team without a point.
Late drama
Jean-Philippe Mateta converted a stoppage time penalty to salvage a 2-2 draw for Crystal Palace against Leicester.
Leicester led 2-0 at Selhurst Park after goals from Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi.
But Mateta sparked Palace’s response with a goal in the 47th, a minute after Mavididi doubled Leicester’s advantage.
Conor Coady fouled Ismaili Sarr in the box right near fulltime and Mateta was cool enough to convert.
West Ham left it even later to salvage a point in a 1-1 draw at Fulham.
Danny Ings struck in the fifth minute of added time after Raul Jimenez’s goal looked like earning Fulham the win.
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler, the manager of the month for August, was frustrated as his team was held to 0-0 at home by Ipswich.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
