Evacuated Afghan boy arrives Canada

A three year old Afghan boy who was evacuated alone, has made it to Toronto, Canada, where his father lives, after leaving Kabul more than two weeks ago.

Canadian news outlet, The Globe, reported that the boy, who was identified only with the pseudonym Ali for safety concerns for his family in Afghanistan, arrived in Canada on Monday after a 14-hour flight from Qatar.

Ali had survived the suicide blast near the airport that killed 175 people last month but became separated from his mother and four siblings who remain in Afghanistan.

The child spent two weeks in an orphanage in Qatar before travelling to Canada, accompanied by an official from the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), according to the report.

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The elated father who has been living in Toronto for two years, said he could not sleep for two weeks, after he was reunited with his son at the Toronto international airport.

Canada, which was part of the US-led coalition that invaded Afghanistan in 2001, has pledged to resettle 20,000 vulnerable Afghans this year.

“Afghans have put their lives at great risk to support Canada in helping Afghans achieve significant democratic, human rights, education, health and security gains over the past 20 years,” Marc Garneau, Canada’s Foreign Minister, said last month.

“We owe them a debt of gratitude and we will continue our efforts to bring them to safety.”

UN agency for children, UNICEF, estimates that 300 unaccompanied minors were evacuated from Kabul last month to bases hosting refugees in Qatar, Germany and other countries.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore 0has called for swiftly identifying the minors and reuniting them with their families.

“I can only imagine how frightened these children must have been to suddenly find themselves without their families as the crisis at the airport unfolded or as they were whisked away on an evacuation flight,” Fore said in a statement.