Federal government looked into airlifts to bring 12,000 Afghans to Canada after Kabul fell

Nearly a year after it closed its embassy in Afghanistan following Kab‐ ul's fall to the Taliban in 2021, the federal govern‐ ment was trying to plan flights out of the country to bring in an estimated 12,000 Afghans it believed were "current and future" clients of Immigration Canada, CBC News has learned.

That information is con‐ tained in a memo written for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by the Privy Council Office and sent to him the week ending June 24, 2022. CBC News obtained the doc‐ ument through an access to information request.

"Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, and Global Affairs Canada are working with the United States and United Arab Emi‐ rates to investigate options for facilitating air travel out of Afghanistan and then sub‐ sequent security screening prior to onward travel to Canada. Negotiations with both countries are ongoing," the memo says.

When asked by CBC News how far the government got on planning airlifts with the U.S. and the UAE, Immigra‐ tion, Refugees and Citizen‐ ship Canada (IRCC) said that "movement out of Afghanistan continues to be very difficult and dangerous.

"That is why the Govern‐ ment of Canada continues to work with the UAE, the United States and other countries, as well as NGOs and Canadian partners, to support those who remain in Afghanistan and to find ways to maximize humanitarian assistance and immigration pathways to Canada," the de‐ partment said.

In July 2021, when the Tal‐ iban had almost completed its takeover of Afghanistan, the Canadian government announced special immigra‐ tion measures for former employees of the Canadian government and the Canadi‐ an Armed Forces, such as military interpreters, along with their loved ones.

IRCC says that, since then, it has brought 49,070 Afghan nationals to Canada. Most of them had fled Afghanistan for neighbouring countries such as Pakistan or Tajikistan, where they secured flights.

Citing operational secu‐ rity, the federal government has never disclosed publicly how many of those 12,000 Afghans are still in Afghanistan waiting to leave, or the total number of appli‐ cants to its immigration pro‐ grams for Afghans.

"Because Afghans are part of a vulnerable population, we are unable to provide de‐ tails on how many people re‐ main in Afghanistan due to safety, privacy and security concerns," IRCC said in a media statement.

The government has said repeatedly that a major ob‐ stacle for these programs was its inability to land planes in Afghanistan.

On July 21, 2022, less than a month after his office re‐ ceived the memo, Trudeau told journalists at an event in Halifax that "the challenge right now is actually getting people out of Afghanistan."

"It's extremely difficult to even process people in-coun‐ try," he added.

"We're dealing with a terri‐ tory that's been seized by the Taliban, a listed terrorist en‐ tity under Canadian law," then-Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said at the same event. "These are people who don't have interest in helping people destined for Canada. They don't have interest in helping the Canadian govern‐ ment, for reasons that are perhaps obvious.

"Even if they wanted to, they don't have the expertise to manage the flow of people or even operate a profession‐ al airport."

Life still difficult for Afghans waiting to get out

"It would be a great idea if it would have happened," said Asad Ali Afghan, a former Afghan military inter‐ preter with the Canadian Armed Forces, when asked about idea of direct flights.

He made it to Canada in August 2022 with his wife, one of his sisters and his mother, but is still trying to bring two other sisters and his brother here.

Afghan used to live in Kandahar prior to the Taliban takeover. He and his immedi‐ ate family fled to Kabul, where he said he spent four months waiting after being told that Canada might be able to fly him out of there directly.

He then moved to Islam‐ abad, Pakistan in November 2021, where he and his im‐ mediate family waited nine months for their paperwork to be finalized before moving to Canada.

Afghan said he's trying to convince the IRCC that his siblings depend on his finan‐ cial support. He has sent them a translation of an offi‐ cial Afghan document, called an inheritance letter, stating they came under his care af‐ ter their father's passing.

He said he has not heard back from officials yet.

"I need a final answer about what's going on," Afghan said.

His siblings did make it to Pakistan but were sent back when their temporary visas expired.

Late last year, the Pak‐ istani government began rounding up Afghans living in Pakistan and deporting them to Afghanistan. CBC News has reported that at least six families who were trying to move to Canada were caught in that sweep. Pakistan offer‐ ed an extension for Afghans trying to get to third coun‐ tries, such as Canada, until the end of February.

Afghans who worked for western forces like the Cana‐ dian Armed Forces, or who are relatives of those who did, fear being hunted down by the Taliban.

Afghan said he has gotten his siblings to Iran on tempo‐ rary visas. They face being sent back in Afghanistan once those expire.

Ottawa says it is still working with partners

CBC News has reached out to the U.S. State Depart‐ ment and the UAE embassy for comment. The UAE did not respond.

The State Department said it "cannot discuss private diplomatic conversations" when asked about direct flights from Afghanistan.

Asked how it reached the figure of 12,000 migrants, the IRCC said in a media state‐ ment it worked with the de‐ partments of Global Affairs and National Defence to "es‐ timate how many people with a significant and/or en‐ during relationship to Cana‐ da there might be."

The IRCC also said it is still working with partners in the region and NGOs to help "Afghans inside and outside of Afghanistan."

The Canadian government has no diplomatic relation‐ ship with the Taliban regime, but in the summer of 2021 it did name David Sproule as a special representative to Afghanistan based out of Do‐ ha, Qatar.

CBC News reported a year later that Sproule had en‐ gaged with the Taliban at least on thirteen occasions.

It's not clear whether any of those meetings were specifically about establish‐ ing direct flights out of Afghanistan.

CBC News asked for an in‐ terview with Sproule for this story, but Global Affairs de‐ clined to make him available.