Desperate pleas ‘tear at our souls’
Canada’s top soldier on leaving people behind
OTTAWA • Canada ended its airborne evacuations in Afghanistan Thursday after pulling out about 3,700 Canadian nationals and Afghan refugees, a “heartbreaking” decision that leaves thousands more stranded at the hands of the Taliban and now also the Islamic State.
“We wish we could have stayed longer and rescued everyone who was so desperate to leave. That we could not is truly heartbreaking, but the circumstances on the ground are rapidly deteriorated,” acting Chief of Defence Staff Lt.-gen. Wayne Eyre admitted, his voice shaking slightly with emotion, during a briefing on Thursday morning.
“(Soldiers) witnessed horrific things, they faced incredible dangers and the feeling of helplessness and guilt that arises from having to leave people behind can be overwhelming,” said Eyre.
“I have received emails from people I worked with during my tours in Afghanistan who are desperate to get out or get their families out. Their pleas, and the photos of the families in terrible situations that accompany them, are heart-wrenching. They tear at our souls.”
Eyre listed Canadian citizens and permanent residents, members of their families, citizens of allied countries, people with “durable” ties to Canada and Afghan refugees approved for relocation by the government as those airlifted out of Afghanistan in what is described as the “largest military evacuation in history.”
“Throughout the operation, we received word of multiple imminent attacks, which necessitated changes to our plans on the ground, and demanded maximum adaptability and agility on the part of our people,” he continued, adding this was also the “most complex and dangerous” evacuation operation “in modern history.”
On Thursday, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau made a campaign speech in Quebec City during which he made no mention of the situation in Afghanistan. It was only when questioned by media on the situation and reports of explosions near the Kabul airport that Trudeau said it was a “very difficult day,” though he declined to take any responsibility for the country’s failure to evacuate all Canadian nationals and Afghan refugees.
“The temporary air bridge that was put in place by the Americans over the past number of weeks allowed us to get out tens of thousands of people as an international community, and Canada will have been able to lift out about 3,700 people. We have taken as much if not more advantage of this temporary opportunity than just about any of our allies,” he said.
Conservative Leader Erin O’toole once again lambasted Trudeau for “wasting months with inaction”, though would not detail what he would have done differently when pressed by multiple reporters.
“Watching explosions, watching death and destruction in Afghanistan is heartbreaking. Women and girls will once again be subjected to a brutal Taliban regime. There is no rule of law, no respect for rights, it’s a travesty,” O’toole said from Ottawa.
During a campaign stop in Winnipeg, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh criticized Canada’s evacuation operation as a “failure.”
“It is with a heavy heart that I say yes, it was a failure,” he said.
Andrew Leslie, a retired Canadian general and former head of the army who was a Liberal MP from 2015 to 2019, told Reuters, “Canada’s poor initial response in Kabul points to an extreme of centralized political micromanagement.”
Canada’s last flight out of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport was roughly eight hours before the 8 a.m. EDT press conference, Eyre said. In total, the country airlifted an estimated 3,700 people out of Afghanistan before the government put an end to the operation.
In addition to the growing threat of terrorist attacks from the Islamic State, the imminent departure of the U.S. from the country by Aug. 31 also justified Canada’s need to withdraw right away, he said. “There is no country in the world other than the U.S. that’s got the capability of projecting force to the other side of the world, and securing an airport like that,” Eyre said.
Less than one hour after the end of the Canadian briefing, a “complex” and “heinous” attack that involved two explosions around Kabul airport killed or injured dozens of U.S. Marines and Afghans.
A CAF spokesperson confirmed Thursday morning that all Canadian military personnel are “safe and accounted for,” but that the situation “remains dangerous.”
According to Daniel Mills, assistant deputy minister of operations at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), roughly 8,000 people had applied to be evacuated by Canada. It was unclear how many were left behind, because an unknown number may have successfully fled via other means such as land borders.
During the briefing, Canada’s top soldier also took offence to what he called “misinformed” public criticism about the evacuation mission due to the Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) need to keep operational details of the mission “quiet.”
Many experts have criticized Canada’s evacuation plans in Afghanistan as “slow” and accused the government of “abandoning” many Afghans that assisted the CAF and Canadian officials throughout the two-decades-long conflict in Afghanistan.
“(CAF members’) experiences have not been made any easier by the fact that operation was carried out under intense, and often misinformed public scrutiny and criticism,” Eyre said. When pressed for examples, he mentioned reports of a video that appeared to show Canadian special forces ignoring Afghans waving what they say are Canadian exit documents.
Soon enough, “you’ll hear stories about how the dedication, determination, and compassion and the heroism of our Canadian troops saved and changed thousands of lives. You’ll hear about the CAF members who cared for a new mother and the baby she’d given birth to approximately 15 hours before boarding a flight, making sure she and the infant made it to safety,” Eyre said.
He also admitted that Canada was not expecting the Afghan capital to fall so quickly to Taliban forces.
“We were surprised by the speed of the Taliban takeover of Kabul. And I’m sure there’ll be much ink spilt about this,” Eyre said.
“This is an extraordinary humanitarian crisis. But make no mistake, this is a crisis of the Taliban’s making.”
THIS IS A CRISIS OF THE TALIBAN’S MAKING.