At the height of the evacuations of people from Kabul, as the city fell to the Taliban, Canada only had two airplanes there — and one didn’t work, says Blacklock’s Reporter..In comparison, the US had 110 planes at the airport..And Canadian diplomats commandeered one of them to flee the city, leaving behind thousands of Canadian citizens and Afghan allies..“The fall of Kabul happened more quickly than I anticipated,” Immigration Minister Sean Fraser told the Commons Special Committee on Afghanistan..“At the time we can talk about the different levels of relative presence on the ground.”.“The United States had 110 planes on site. Canada at the time, having ceased our military operations a number of years before, had two, and one of them wasn’t in great working order.”.The Department of National Defence earlier told MPs it approved military deployment to Kabul on April 1, 2021 months before the city fell. Fraser did not explain why only two aircraft were assigned to the Afghan capital at the time..Cabinet had proposed to let 40,000 Afghan allies into Canada. Only 11,500 have arrived to date. A million Afghans applied, said Fraser..“We are seeing roughly a flight with a few hundred people on a weekly basis,” he said..“I know this is going to be incredibly hard news for a lot of vulnerable people, but the reality is not everyone who expressed an interest in coming to Canada is going to.”.MPs on the special committee have questioned Canadian diplomats’ hurried departure from Afghanistan. Some 1,250 Canadian citizens were left behind at the time, by official estimate..“The government had a good five months to get people out,” said Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay (South Surrey-White Rock, B.C.)..“Why didn’t this government act sooner to help our allies and our families out?”.“We seemed completely ill-prepared,” said Findlay, who earlier complained Canadian diplomats “left in a pretty big hurry” as thousands were pleading for help..The committee heard March 2 testimony from eyewitnesses in Kabul that Canadian Embassy staff appeared “overwhelmed” and confused..“They pushed us aside,” testified David Lavery, an Afghan War veteran and Kabul security consultant..Ambassador Reid Sirrs testified March 21 he felt Kabul was too unsafe to stay..“We all saw on TV it was two planes after ours that the people were hanging off the airplane when people fell off it,” said Sirrs. “So it was quite close for us.”.“We could hear explosions. We could see fires all over the city. When we came into the military side of the airport itself it was very obvious the city was coming under siege.”.“It looked like the whole airport was going to be overrun.”.The Canadian military organized rescue flights for 11 days after Sirrs and his staff fled the city.
At the height of the evacuations of people from Kabul, as the city fell to the Taliban, Canada only had two airplanes there — and one didn’t work, says Blacklock’s Reporter..In comparison, the US had 110 planes at the airport..And Canadian diplomats commandeered one of them to flee the city, leaving behind thousands of Canadian citizens and Afghan allies..“The fall of Kabul happened more quickly than I anticipated,” Immigration Minister Sean Fraser told the Commons Special Committee on Afghanistan..“At the time we can talk about the different levels of relative presence on the ground.”.“The United States had 110 planes on site. Canada at the time, having ceased our military operations a number of years before, had two, and one of them wasn’t in great working order.”.The Department of National Defence earlier told MPs it approved military deployment to Kabul on April 1, 2021 months before the city fell. Fraser did not explain why only two aircraft were assigned to the Afghan capital at the time..Cabinet had proposed to let 40,000 Afghan allies into Canada. Only 11,500 have arrived to date. A million Afghans applied, said Fraser..“We are seeing roughly a flight with a few hundred people on a weekly basis,” he said..“I know this is going to be incredibly hard news for a lot of vulnerable people, but the reality is not everyone who expressed an interest in coming to Canada is going to.”.MPs on the special committee have questioned Canadian diplomats’ hurried departure from Afghanistan. Some 1,250 Canadian citizens were left behind at the time, by official estimate..“The government had a good five months to get people out,” said Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay (South Surrey-White Rock, B.C.)..“Why didn’t this government act sooner to help our allies and our families out?”.“We seemed completely ill-prepared,” said Findlay, who earlier complained Canadian diplomats “left in a pretty big hurry” as thousands were pleading for help..The committee heard March 2 testimony from eyewitnesses in Kabul that Canadian Embassy staff appeared “overwhelmed” and confused..“They pushed us aside,” testified David Lavery, an Afghan War veteran and Kabul security consultant..Ambassador Reid Sirrs testified March 21 he felt Kabul was too unsafe to stay..“We all saw on TV it was two planes after ours that the people were hanging off the airplane when people fell off it,” said Sirrs. “So it was quite close for us.”.“We could hear explosions. We could see fires all over the city. When we came into the military side of the airport itself it was very obvious the city was coming under siege.”.“It looked like the whole airport was going to be overrun.”.The Canadian military organized rescue flights for 11 days after Sirrs and his staff fled the city.