Hon. Salma Ataullahjan: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak on the continued suffering of Afghans since the Taliban took over. I have spoken numerous times in the past about the erasure of women from society, the gnawing hunger taking innocent lives and the complete disregard for basic human rights.

I have also shared with you my memories of Afghanistan, a beautiful country filled with music, art and laughter. Kabul was once our favourite holiday destination.

Recently, when we thought things could not get any worse, we heard of babies dying from preventable diseases across the country. According to UNICEF, at least 167 Afghan babies die on a daily basis from illnesses that could be and should be cured with the right medication. Afghan hospitals are understaffed and overrun, with rooms filled with sick children, often two to a bed, and only two nurses to care for 60 children.

Colleagues, we are witnessing the complete collapse of Afghanistan’s health care, which has relied on foreign funds and is facing dwindling funds since the Taliban banned women from working in NGOs. Health care workers must use what they have on hand, which is very little. Nurses are often working 24-hour shifts and cannot attend to sick babies in critical condition. Some children are dying from a simple lack of oxygen, since the hospital only has power at night and doesn’t have enough supplies of raw materials to produce oxygen on-site.

Some cannot make it to the hospital in time because of the road conditions. Others cannot make the journey. In some cases, parents prefer to take their dying children home as the hospital cannot help them. They prefer to die with their loved ones.

Families are struggling to eat, and one father, watching his daughter struggle to breathe, explained that he cannot even afford to buy a single cup of tea. If it weren’t for a lack of funds, his child would not have had to suffer that way.

Honourable senators, Afghan hospitals are no longer places of care and healing. They are now a place to die. Thank you.

Hon. Salma Ataullahjan: Government leader, yesterday, the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights began hearing testimony on Canada’s anti-terrorism rules that bar aid groups from working in Afghanistan. Committee members heard from lawyers, professors and charity organizations, but none of the three Liberal cabinet ministers accepted our invitation. Instead, Ministers Lametti, Mendicino and Sajjan sent bureaucrats from Public Safety Canada, Department of Justice Canada and Global Affairs Canada.

Senator Gold, we were told repeatedly during yesterday’s hearing that the government is seized — I repeat, because we heard it five times, seized — with this issue, but nothing is being done. I shudder to think, when the government is not seized with certain issues, what happens with those issues. Meanwhile, our allies have modified their rules to allow humanitarian aid to reach Afghanistan.

What are they hiding? Why send us bureaucrats limited by red tape and who, in some cases, have been in their current positions for only six months?

Senator Ataullahjan: Senator Gold, we heard from Professor Kent Roach from the University of Toronto, who took the time to explain to the Human Rights Committee that, in his professional opinion, this government is misinterpreting its own laws and that the needless suffering in Afghanistan could be avoided with solutions such as exemptions on non-prosecution agreements.

Senator Gold, Professor Roach offered three solid and simple solutions to put an end to the restrictions on humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. Why has the government not explored these avenues sooner?

Hon. Salma Ataullahjan: Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Last week, The Globe and Mail reported on the case of Mohammad Salim Saberi, a former guard at Canada’s embassy in Kabul who was attacked by the Taliban earlier this month leaving him with a broken thumb. Mr. Saberi believes that they are also tracking and following him. Since then, he has gone into hiding as he waits to be approved for resettlement by IRCC.

It has been more than a year since he first started asking to be rescued. This is not the first Trudeau government failure to secure the safety of Afghans in need of help. What is taking so long? What steps, if any, is your government taking to bring Mr. Saberi, and others who find themselves in this situation, safely home to Canada?

Senator Ataullahjan: Government leader, Mr. Saberi is one of many Afghans. If you remember, I raised the case of Mr. Haqmal, the interpreter who was stuck in Ukraine and who has since moved to Germany. He is still waiting for his papers. These people risked their lives working alongside our soldiers and diplomats. Yet, they have been effectively abandoned by your government and are now being targeted by the Taliban. After the Taliban’s takeover, the Trudeau government promised to rescue 40,000 Afghans to Canada, but IRCC says only 19,395 Afghans have arrived since August 2021.

Why is your government not doing everything in its power to bring these people to safety? Do you not realize that their lives are at stake?

Hon. Salma Ataullahjan: Honourable senators, I rise today on behalf of the 24 million Afghans who are currently at risk of famine.

According to the United Nations Development Programme, by the end of the summer about 97% of Afghanistan’s population will plunge into poverty.

Since the Taliban takeover last summer, the Afghans’ desperate situation has intensified. While this was sadly expected, what I find truly upsetting is how quickly Afghanistan has been forgotten amidst other crises.

Currently, over 3.5 million Afghans are internally displaced, sleeping in the streets or public parks. Desperate parents find themselves forced to sell their daughters at an increasingly young age, often to families they do not know, because they cannot afford to feed them.

The desperation is palpable. Aziza, a young mother of three, is trying to sell her kidney to avoid having to sell her one-year-old daughter. Another Afghan woman, after selling her two young daughters, had no other choice than to sell her kidney to feed her family. The situation is so dire that she consented to the surgery, even though she was very sick. She said, “I told them I’m happy with my own death, but I can’t tolerate seeing my children hungry and ill.’”

And in a settlement near the town of Herāt, so many residents have sold their kidneys that it has become known as “one-kidney village.” Afghans are being preyed upon by organ traffickers who are responding to their desperation by purchasing kidneys for less money with no regard for the health risks, as these surgeries are not regulated.

Canada has made specific commitments to vulnerable Afghans. In September of 2021, the Liberal government committed to assisting and resettling 40,000 Afghans. To this day, only 9,560 Afghans have been resettled. Most of them had to get out on their own and through private NGOs. Many of these individuals left behind are those who risked their safety to help our forces in Afghanistan.

On March 4, the International Rescue Committee stated:

As the world’s attention shifts to the conflict and displacement crisis in Ukraine, the IRC calls on the world to not neglect Afghanistan. The international community should seize this window of opportunity in Afghanistan to prevent famine, save lives, and put an end to the horrific conditions facing women and girls.

Honourable senators, I cannot stand idly by as the Trudeau government ignores starving and suffering Afghans who have been left behind to fend for themselves. This government can and must do better.

Thank you.

Hon. Salma Ataullahjan: Honourable senators, as a young child in Pakistan, there were few things I would look forward to more than a journey to Kabul. I have fond memories of summers spent in Afghanistan where the people are generous, the landscapes are breathtaking and the food incomparable.

Women had a very visible presence in every place in society, and it was common to see women owning businesses. I never would have expected the region to be plunged into devastation and have all the world’s eyes on it.

Because of my love and concern for that part of the world, as a new senator in 2010, I proposed a study on the role of the Canadian government in supporting women’s rights after ending combat operations in Afghanistan. The committee recommended concrete ways that Canada could make the advancement of women’s rights a fundamental element of its approach to Afghanistan post-2011.

For the past three months, I have been receiving desperate emails from Afghans trying to flee Kabul and from Canadians concerned about their loved ones. The Canada-Afghanistan Parliamentary Friendship Group has been very active since January 2021.

In our last meeting with women parliamentarians in June, there was a sense of desperation and we were begged for help. Those who remain in Afghanistan face economic hardship, a lack of essential services, hunger and the threat of violence.

The United Nations currently estimates that nearly half of the country’s population — 23 million people — is facing acute hunger, and 3.2 million children under the age of 5 are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition by the end of the year.

Already, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs has been replaced by the Ministry of Vice and Virtue, known for its public beatings of women. Humanitarian groups worry that 97% of the country will sink below the poverty line over the next few months.

I also worry about the thousands of years of history, culture and music that are under threat. We are hearing reports from old Kabul of musical instruments being dismantled, of the silencing of the voices that sung of the majesty of Afghanistan, of its mountains, rivers and valleys.

One story that struck a chord with me is that of an ustad, or master, who buried his rabab, a stringed instrument. For me, the burying of the rabab is a significant act. The strings of the rabab pull at the heartstrings of everyone for that region. For me, it signifies the burying of the heart and the soul of Afghanistan.

My fear is that as the news cycle changes, the world will forget about Afghanistan again. Already, the story is starting to fade from our headlines. Already, a space women had carved out in society is disappearing. Already, they are becoming invisible. How long before their plight fades from our headlines completely and they become invisible to us too?

Thank you, and as I say in Pashto, manana.