Sayed Shah Sharifi, who was an interpreter for Canadian combat troops, received his Canadian visa Friday in Kandahar after a long battle to get Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to keep his promise to protect Afghans who worked alongside Canadians in the warzone.

Afghan interpreter Sayed Shah Sharifi wins fight for visa to Canada
Published on Friday July 20, 2012
BY PAUL WATSON/Toronto Star
Sayed Shah Sharifi, who was an interpreter for Canadian combat troops, received his Canadian visa Friday in Kandahar after a long battle to get Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to keep his promise to protect Afghans who worked alongside Canadians in the warzone.
By Watson, Paul
Star Columnist

VANCOUVER—Battlefield interpreter Sayed Shah Sharifi’s long fight for protection from the insurgents he helped Canadians battle in Kandahar is almost over.

Sharifi received a visa Friday and was told by the International Organization for Migration, which acts as a middleman for Canadian immigration in Kandahar, that he has a seat reserved on a flight to Canada later this month. He is waiting for details on his resettlement in Canada.

“Hello sir hope every one is doing very well,” Sharifi wrote in a breathless email. It announced the long-awaited breakthrough to several Canadian veterans of the Afghan war, whom Sharifi served with in Kandahar, the Taliban’s power base.

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Posted by on Jul 21, 2012 | 0 comments