Flights from Kabul `for as long as possible'

OTTAWA • Canada will accelerate processing the families of interpreters and others who supported its mission in Afghanistan to quickly evacuate as many approved people as possible, Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said Friday.

In an interview, Mendicino said his department is ramping up processing Afghan refugees by adding resources.

He said the government is not requiring passports or negative COVID tests from the Afghan passengers and is deferring biometric screening to a third country, where it's safe for evacuees and government officials to be screened.

“We have now two of our largest air carriers running back and forth from Kabul. We're going to keep those flights going for as long as possible,” he said.

Mendicino said the main obstacle remains the Taliban checkpoints that Afghans have to go through to reach the Kabul airport.

“It's our expectation that every Afghan that is eligible under our program be permitted safe passage to get to the airport,” he said.

The Department of National Defence announced this week that two C-17 transport aircraft had been deployed to conduct regular flights out of Kabul.

DND spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande said in an email Thursday that the C-17s have been reconfigured to maximize the passengers they can carry and have begun to fly in and out of Kabul. Mendicino says almost 1,000 Afghan refugees have already arrived.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that the first plane full of Afghan refugees took off from Kabul Thursday night, but he didn't say how many were on board.

“We have been working closely with our allies, particularly with the U.S. and the U.K. on ensuring that we are as effective as possible, all together, bringing out as many Afghans as possible and getting people to safety,” the Liberal leader said at a campaign stop in Winnipeg.

He said the two C-17 planes started evacuations on Thursday, and several more round-trip flights from Kabul will follow the next day.

An interpreter waiting in Kabul to be evacuated to Canada with his wife and three children said the Taliban militants knocked on his door Friday asking what he does for a living and why he is not in his home province.

The interpreter that The Canadian Press is not naming to protect his safety said he had to lie to the militants by saying he worked at a bakery and is in Kabul for work.

“They were searching every house where I live,” said the interpreter who previously worked with the Canadian Forces in Kandahar.

He said he submitted his application for resettlement in Canada last month and visited the Canadian Embassy in Kabul on Aug. 5. He said he has not heard from the Canadian government since then.

“It is very dangerous to be in Kabul,” he said. “Things are getting worse hour by hour.”