Canadian government officials have met with representatives of the Talibanon at least 13 occasions in Qatar since it swept to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, documents obtained by CBC News reveal.
The documents, obtained through access to information law, show David Sproule, Canada’s senior official for Afghanistan, has been — along with various Global Affairs Canada (GAC) officials and representatives of allied countries — pressing the Taliban for commitments on extending the right to an education to women, fighting terrorism and granting safe passage to Afghans who want to leave the country.
Unlike foreign affairs departments in the U.S. and Pakistan, Canada does not provide regular updates on its talks with the government in Afghanistan.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declined an interview request for this story, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told journalists Wednesday morning that Canada has no intention of recognizing the Taliban as Afghanistan’s government.
“The reality is, along with international partners, we have to continue to press on them to respect womens’ rights, to make sure the girls can go to school, to help the safe passage of people who want to leave Afghanistan. There is a need to engage even though we will not be recognizing them,” he said.
In a statement, GAC spokesperson Charlotte MacLeod emphasized how Sproule has been engaging the Taliban informally, with allied countries, and all would continue to press them on human-rights related issues, fighting terror and other “key priorities.”
(From left) Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, U.S. Maj.-Gen. Benjamin Freakley and David Sproule, the Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan, speak with reporters after the change of command ceremony that put Fraser in charge of coalition troops on the ground in southern Afghanistan on Feb. 28, 2006. (The Canadian Press)
The documents obtained by CBC News are mostly emails Sproule sent to his GAC colleagues. They show the Taliban has made its own requests of Canada and other countries — and has issued denials regarding the dangers faced by Afghans trying to leave, despite multiple reports by CBC News and other media outlets about those dangers.
In a meeting on Oct. 12, 2021 — not long after it took over — the Taliban asked representatives of foreign governments to reopen their embassies in Kabul.
According to a note Sproule wrote to his colleagues, Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister at the time, Amir Khan Muttaqi, also asked those governments to lift their sanctions and claimed his government was inclusive because it included ethnic minority representation and “women in government have not been fired.”
The Canadian embassy’s entrance gate after the evacuation in Kabul on August 15, 2021. (Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images)
During that same meeting, Sproule reported, the Taliban claimed that “people are using security as an excuse to leave the country, but are really leaving to seek economic opportunities.” Sproule said the Taliban also claimed that while it did not want anyone to leave, it would “not create hurdles if they wanted to go.”
Sproule said that the Taliban suggested that foreign governments “interested in helping women … should start by paying the salaries of 200,000 female teachers, including 28,000 in Kabul.”
Sproule reported that during his next meeting with Afghan government representatives, also in October, the Taliban acknowledged “a minor problem in cabinet” — a lack of women.
Taliban representatives also claimed, he said, that “women judges, prosecutors and others” taking part in demonstrations against the regime “are deliberately provoking security personnel to retaliate against them so they can produce video of the retaliation to back up their claims for asylum abroad.”
Taliban fighters fired into the air to disperse a rally by women in front of the education ministry building in Kabul days before the first anniversary of the hardline Islamists’ return to power on August 13, 2022. (Nava Jamshidi/Getty Images)
Sproule reported the Taliban accused “the international community” of a double standard because it “recognized many other governments that came to power by force but had the support of the people.”
He said that on Nov. 23, he asked another Taliban official (whose name and title were redacted in the documents) why they would not consider a power-sharing agreement “with respected figures outside the movement to give it added legitimacy.”
The Taliban representative agreed there would be an “advantage in doing so,” Sproule said, since the last four decades in Afghanistan showed that one political group could not fully control the country by force — but the regime was maintaining “100 per cent monopoly over power.”
Embassy intrusion
The correspondence also showed Sproule was troubled by Taliban members entering Canadian diplomatic property on Sept. 10, 2021, a little less than a month after the regime seized power and after Canada announced it was temporarily shutting its embassy and vacating staff.
A report by the British news organization Sky News from that day shows journalists entering the British and Canadian embassies accompanied by Taliban security guards. Footage from the Canadian compound shows discarded bottles of wine on the ground and a Taliban member saying, “They must have had a lot of money to eat this much … They used to eat good food, get drunk and then have sex with each other.”
The first reference to this event in Sproule’s documents comes in a note he wrote on Sept. 20, 2021. In it, he says he plans to formally register “concern about Taliban individuals entering our diplomatic property in Kabul in violation of Afghanistan’s treaty obligation to protect diplomatic property.”
The documents say Sproule brought up the event again during meetings in October and November of 2021 with different Taliban representatives. He reports he was told to “forward the video clip of the incident for the matter to be pursued.”
The last meeting between Sproule and Taliban representatives summarized in the documents took place on Feb. 16 of this year. One document says Sproule warned the Taliban that “future engagement of the international community” with their government would be “directly influenced by its actions against terrorist groups” and that Afghanistan should “not again be allowed to serve as a base for terrorist activities.”
In response, says the document, Taliban defence official Abdullah Hanefi insisted that the Taliban controlled “all of Afghanistan’s territory” and while small cells might exist, no terror group was using Afghanistan as a training ground or to finance activities.
Nipa Banerjee, a professional in residence at the University of Ottawa School of International Development and Global Studies, said that while it may not be easy to conduct diplomacy with the Taliban, “it is absolutely essential.”
“Abandoning the Taliban at this stage, to me, is equivalent to abandoning the ordinary Afghans who have nobody to support them,” she said.
Banerjee worked at the Canadian embassy in Kabul for four years that overlapped with Sproule’s tenure as ambassador to Afghanistan from 2005 to 2007.
Nipa Banerjee, a former staffer at the Canadian Embassy in Kabul, says the Canadian government and western allies should set clear benchmarks for the Taliban. (Toni Choueiri/CBC)
Banerjee said Canada could team up with allies in the international community to open a representative office in Afghanistan in order to have a presence on the ground — without committing to a full embassy.
She said such an office could fact-check Taliban claims that it is allowing girls to return to school and is not jailing political dissidents.
“Whether or not [the Taliban] are trustworthy is something that needs to be established and the government has to figure out how to establish that,” she said.
“I’m saying that fact-checking with goals, outcomes and indicators of outcomes, this can be done and we should work on that.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Wednesday that while he doesn’t support recognizing the Taliban government, he does support talks between Canada and the Taliban.
“Our goal as New Democrats is to make sure we get people that have put their lives at risk, that have supported our troops, we find a way to get them to safety,” Singh told a news conference.
“If that means having some meetings and having ongoing dialogue, then for the goal of securing the release and the safety of those who have put their lives at risk to support our troops, yes, we should do that.”
Singh added he also wants to see the Canadian government put pressure on the Taliban to respect human rights in Afghanistan.
GAC’s departmental statement to CBC News suggested it has little basis to believe the Taliban’s claims. It noted “the human rights situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate severely, especially with regard to secondary education for girls,” and it is “deeply concerned about reports of extrajudicial punishments … such as reprisals and summary executions, disappearances and detentions.”
Canada has allocated more than $143 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and the region this year.
Former foreign affairs minister Marc Garneau appointed Sproule as senior official for Afghanistan during the last Canadian federal election. He made the announcement on Twitter on Aug. 27, 2021.
TORONTO – Will Taylor Swift bring chaos or do we all need to calm down?
It’s a question many Torontonians are asking this week as the city braces for the arrival of Swifties, the massive fan base of one of the world’s biggest pop stars.
Hundreds of thousands are expected to descend on the downtown core for the singer’s six concerts which kick off Thursday at the Rogers Centre and run until Nov. 23.
And while their arrival will be a boon to tourism dollars — the city estimates more than $282 million in economic impact — some worry it could worsen Toronto’s gridlock by clogging streets that already come to a standstill during rush hour.
Swift’s shows are set to collide with sports events at the nearby Scotiabank Arena, including a Raptors game on Friday and a Leafs game on Saturday.
Some residents and local businesses have already adjusted their plans to avoid the area and its planned road closures.
Aahil Dayani says he and some friends intended to throw a birthday bash for one of their pals until they realized it would overlap with the concerts.
“Something as simple as getting together and having dinner is now thrown out the window,” he said.
Dayani says the group rescheduled the gathering for after Swift leaves town. In the meantime, he plans to hunker down at his Toronto residence.
“Her coming into town has kind of changed up my social life,” he added.
“We’re pretty much just not doing anything.”
Max Sinclair, chief executive and founder of A.I. technology firm Ecomtent, suggested his employees avoid the company’s downtown offices on concert days, saying he doesn’t see the point in forcing people to endure potential traffic jams.
“It’s going to be less productive for us, and it’s going to be just a pain for everyone, so it’s easier to avoid it,” Sinclair said.
“We’re a hybrid company, so we can be flexible. It just makes sense.”
Swift’s concerts are the latest pop culture moment to draw attention to Toronto’s notoriously disastrous daily commute.
In June, One Direction singer Niall Horan uploaded a social media video of himself walking through traffic to reach the venue for his concert.
“Traffic’s too bad in Toronto, so we’re walking to the venue,” he wrote in the post.
Toronto Transit Commission spokesperson Stuart Green says the public agency has been working for more than a year on plans to ease the pressure of so many Swifties in one confined area.
“We are preparing for something that would be akin to maybe the Beatles coming in the ‘60s,” he said.
Dozens of buses and streetcars have been added to transit routes around the stadium, and the TTC has consulted the city on potential emergency scenarios.
Green will be part of a command centre operated by the City of Toronto and staffed by Toronto police leaders, emergency services and others who have handled massive gatherings including the Raptors’ NBA championship parade in 2019.
“There may be some who will say we’re over-preparing, and that’s fair,” Green said.
“But we know based on what’s happened in other places, better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.”
Metrolinx, the agency for Ontario’s GO Transit system, has also added extra trips and extended hours in some regions to accommodate fans looking to travel home.
A day before Swift’s first performance, the city began clearing out tents belonging to homeless people near the venue. The city said two people were offered space in a shelter.
“As the area around Rogers Centre is expected to receive a high volume of foot traffic in the coming days, this area has been prioritized for outreach work to ensure the safety of individuals in encampments, other residents, businesses and visitors — as is standard for large-scale events,” city spokesperson Russell Baker said in a statement.
Homeless advocate Diana Chan McNally questioned whether money and optics were behind the measure.
“People (in the area) are already in close proximity to concerts, sports games, and other events that generate massive amounts of traffic — that’s nothing new,” she said in a statement.
“If people were offered and willingly accepted a shelter space, free of coercion, I support that fully — that’s how it should happen.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Hundreds of Taylor Swift fans lined up outside the gates of Toronto’s Rogers Centre Wednesday, with hopes of snagging some of the pop star’s merchandise on the eve of the first of her six sold-out shows in the city.
Swift is slated to perform at the venue from Thursday to Saturday, and the following week from Nov. 21 to Nov. 23, with concert merchandise available for sale on some non-show days.
Swifties were all smiles as they left the merch shop, their arms full of sweaters and posters bearing pictures of the star and her Eras Tour logo.
Among them was Zoe Haronitis, 22, who said she waited in line for about two hours to get $300 worth of merchandise, including some apparel for her friends.
Haronitis endured the autumn cold and the hefty price tag even though she hasn’t secured a concert ticket. She said she’s hunting down a resale ticket and plans to spend up to $600.
“I haven’t really budgeted anything,” Haronitis said. “I don’t care how much money I spent. That was kind of my mindset.”
The megastar’s merchandise costs up to $115 for a sweater, and $30 for tote bags and other accessories.
Rachel Renwick, 28, also waited a couple of hours in line for merchandise, but only spent about $70 after learning that a coveted blue sweater and a crewneck had been snatched up by other eager fans before she got to the shop. She had been prepared to spend much more, she said.
“The two prized items sold out. I think a lot more damage would have been done,” Renwick said, adding she’s still determined to buy a sweater at a later date.
Renwick estimated she’s spent about $500 in total on “all-things Eras Tour,” including her concert outfit and merchandise.
The long queue for Swift merch is just a snapshot of what the city will see in the coming days. It’s estimated that up to 500,000 visitors from outside Toronto will be in town during the concert period.
Tens of thousands more are also expected to attend Taylgate’24, an unofficial Swiftie fan event scheduled to be held at the nearby Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Meanwhile, Destination Toronto has said it anticipates the economic impact of the Eras Tour could grow to $282 million as the money continues to circulate.
But for fans like Haronitis, the experience in Toronto comes down to the Swiftie community. Knowing that Swift is going to be in the city for six shows and seeing hundreds gather just for merchandise is “awesome,” she said.
Even though Haronitis hasn’t officially bought her ticket yet, she said she’s excited to see the megastar.
“It’s literally incredible.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Via Rail is asking for a judicial review on the reasons why Canadian National Railway Co. has imposed speed restrictions on its new passenger trains.
The Crown corporation says it is seeking the review from the Federal Court after many attempts at dialogue with the company did not yield valid reasoning for the change.
It says the restrictions imposed last month are causing daily delays on Via Rail’s Québec City-Windsor corridor, affecting thousands of passengers and damaging Via Rail’s reputation with travellers.
CN says in a statement that it imposed the restrictions at rail crossings given the industry’s experience and known risks associated with similar trains.
The company says Via has asked the courts to weigh in even though Via has agreed to buy the equipment needed to permanently fix the issues.
Via said in October that no incidents at level crossings have been reported in the two years since it put 16 Siemens Venture trains into operation.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
