The Canadian Minister of Immigration said that the country’s current evacuation work AfghanistanSo far, more than a thousand refugees have been rescued. Given the current logistical obstacles and Canada’s lack of a military presence in the country, this is “a miracle”.
Marco Mendicino made a statement in an interview West Street District On Sunday, Mercedes Stephenson (Mercedes Stephenson) was asked if they were worried that they would not be able to take everyone they promised home when the Americans completed their evacuation.
“The last time Canadians conducted military operations in Afghanistan was 10 years ago, and our last member of the armed forces left seven years ago,” Mendicino said.
“Therefore, in order to be able to restore the ground military presence in just a few weeks, start flying again, build an air bridge with our coalition forces, and establish a completely complex dynamic process-it is a miracle to let people participate in the flight as fast as possible. “
The Minister of Immigration’s problem arose during what some said was the slow process of resettling about 21,000 people from Afghanistan. Last week, government officials, including Mendicino’s department, were severely criticized for handling Canada’s evacuation and refugee resettlement procedures.
On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that because the Taliban prevented contact with Afghans who wish to leave, it would be “near impossible” for many to leave the country in the coming weeks.
Trudeau told reporters on Thursday: “Unless the Taliban significantly change their posture, which is something that the international community and Canada are working on, it will be difficult for many people to leave.”
The Liberal Party leader also announced earlier that two Canadian planes will regularly fly back and forth to Afghanistan to help evacuate people.
Although Trudeau pointed out that the Taliban was the main obstacle to the evacuation process, some people working there said that lack of communication in Canada is a bigger problem.
“The message I heard from other lawyers and people who contacted me from Afghanistan is that getting to the airport is not a real problem,” immigration lawyer Chantal Deslogz told Global News earlier this week.
“The problem is that there is no information there. The system is too opaque.”
According to several military and foreign affairs sources, the United States is likely to stay there before the end of this month.
This timetable-less than two weeks away from now-is a serious challenge for the Canadian officials organizing the evacuation and the thousands of Afghans awaiting rescue in the country.
Officials confirmed on Saturday that a transport plane carrying 106 Afghans took off to a safe third country. This is the second Canadian flight to leave Afghanistan since Afghanistan fell into the hands of the Taliban last weekend.
Officials told Global News that the first flight took off on Thursday with about 198 people on board. In contrast, an earlier transportation flight in the United States carried 823 people on the same plane—a C-17 Globemaster.
Sources and officials told Global News that there were discussions on the seat belt capacity to limit the number of people on the plane and the crew not receiving air-to-air refueling training. However, these aircraft have been approved to bear the limit of more than 188 passengers, but the crew will decide whether to exceed this limit based on the specific circumstances.
Mendicino pointed out that before the Taliban took over, Canada had completed at least 10 flights to transport passengers from Afghanistan, and stated that he had instructed his department to cancel “all red tape” and chose to waive passport and COVID-19 testing requirements.
“The most important thing is that we will do everything we can to get as many people away as possible as soon as possible,” Mendicino said.
— Documents from Canadian media, Rachel Gilmore and Mercedes Stephenson
© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
