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Canadian senator sent ‘inauthentic’ documents to fleeing Afghan family
Marilou McPhedran, a Canadian senator, and one of her staff members sent inauthentic travel documents to a family attempting to flee Afghanistan last year, a Canadian newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The letters say each of the Afghans named on them has been “granted a VISA to enter Canada” and ask that the group be given “safe travel to the Hamid Karzai International Airport so that they can board their organized flight.”
The family is still in Afghanistan.
According to the Canadian government, the facilitation letters they received from the senator and her office were not authentic, and the people named on them had not been approved to come to Canada.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the federal immigration department, conducted an internal investigation and referred the matter to police.
Senator McPhedran said she was trying to help, and that she acted in good faith. She acknowledged using a template version of a government facilitation letter, but she denied that the documents were fake, or that she had used them in an unauthorized way.
“There is nothing fraudulent or illicit about any actions I took with regard to the Afghanistan rescue efforts last August,” she said in an email.
IRCC spokesperson Rémi Larivière said: “The use of inauthentic facilitation letters is a serious matter.” Following the department’s internal investigation, he added, it “made a referral to the appropriate law enforcement partners.”
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Serdar Muhammetdurdiyev on Thursday met with Chinese special envoy for Afghanistan, Yue Xiaoyong, the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan announced.
During the meeting, the sides discussed priority vectors of strategic interstate cooperation built on a long-term, mutually beneficial basis, as well as exchanged views on the implementation of previously reached agreements.
It was noted that personal contacts between the leaders of the two countries play a key role in intensifying the interstate dialogue, which give a strong impulse to further development and expansion of Turkmen-Chinese ties.
It was emphasized that Turkmenistan considers multilateral international platforms for maintaining stability in Afghanistan as an important factor in promoting sustainable improvement of socio-economic state of the neighboring country. The sides exchanged views on the preparations to the 5th meeting of Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan's Neighboring States to be held in Turkmenistan.
The interlocutors reaffirmed that Turkmenistan and China will continue to provide all-round support for the economic restoration of Afghanistan.
The U.S. House Of Representatives has passed a legislation on evacuation of Afghans who assisted Americans during the 20-year war in Afghanistan.
“The passage of the CARE Authorization Act of 2024 further underscores the commitment made by the U.S. government to safeguard those who served shoulder-to-shoulder with our personnel during the twenty-year mission in Afghanistan,” Congresswoman Dina Titus said in a statement.
“The State Department has made it clear: There is no deadline for the crucial job of protecting Afghan allies. By authorizing the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts at the State Department, we can more effectively relocate and resettle those who have qualified to immigrate to the U.S. as a result of their service to this country.”
In 2022 the State Department established a specialized office called the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) to streamline and coordinate the ongoing relocation and resettlement process for eligible Afghans from Afghanistan and Pakistan to the United States.
The CARE Authorization Act of 2024 will formally authorize the CARE office at the State Department for three years and grant important authorities to advance its mission. These include an extension of authorities to enter into personal services contracts as well as measures to streamline the transfer of funds to and from other agencies involved in the Afghan relocation mission.
The Islamic Emirate’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says the acting government is committed to supporting media outlets and they can operate within the framework of Islamic Sharia and national interests.
Marking World Television Day on Thursday, November 21, Mujahid said: “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan supports the media in general. Media can operate within the framework of Islamic Sharia and national interests.”
“As far as we are able, we cooperate with the media and the Afghan media currently have publications and they are broadcasting their publications well,” he added.
The United Nations General Assembly named November 21 as World Television Day in 1996.
“Since IEA’s takeover, of 184 national and local televisions, 57 television stations were shut down due to economic problems,” said Hojatullah Mujadadi, the head of Afghanistan Free Journalists' Association (AFJU).
Currently, about 370 visual, audio and print media are active in the country.
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