![]() ![]() They were granted top-secret security clearance and risked their lives to serve alongside soldiers. The Canadian government recruited some 45 Canadian citizens with Afghan heritage like Sam to serve as language and cultural advisers during the mission in Afghanistan. "I feel that the responsibility is on me because it happened because of me, you know, because of my involvement," said Sam, who lives in Ottawa. Though the Canadian government recently created a program specifically to bring the families of people like Sam to safety, his sister doesn't qualify because she fled too early - before the Taliban took over the country. There are so many threats waiting for us yet," she said. "If we are sent back to Afghanistan, of course they will kill us. They now face deportation back to Afghanistan. "All the years we spent in Afghanistan was in fear," she said in Pashto through an interpreter.įearing that her sons would suffer the same fate as their father, she fled to Turkey in 2018 with several of her children. Then threatening letters began to arrive at the house. She believes he was targeted by the Taliban because of her brother's work with the Canadian military.Įven after the killing, the phone calls continued. Then one day in 2013, her husband was shot dead outside of the family's home on his way to work. Sometimes the woman's husband, a police officer, would pick up the phone. The phone calls continued every four or five days for years. The Canadian Press has agreed not to use Sam's real name or reveal his sister's identity because of the threat she still faces from the Taliban. Her 25-year-old brother, who was given the code name "Sam" by the Canadian military, was in Afghanistan in secret to help Canadian troops navigate the unfamiliar cultural landscape and give advice to the commanders on the ground. "Your brother is working for foreigners and your life is at risk because your brother works with foreigners," she recalls the insurgents telling her in that first frightening phone call. ![]()
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