Joly calls Afghanistan evacuation ‘messy’ as MPs hear of challenges on the ground
Global News
The foreign affairs minister and other Global Affairs Canada officials testified at the House of Commons immigration committee on its final report on the chaotic withdrawal.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says it was “a messy situation” trying to help Afghans escape the Taliban, as Conservatives questioned her department’s decision to install a plaque commemorating the August 2021 airlift.
“I can’t turn back the clock,” Joly told the House of Commons immigration committee, where she was questioned about the government’s chaotic attempts to bring thousands of people from Kabul to safety.
But a senior Global Affairs Canada official, Weldon Epp, told the committee the effort was made more difficult because Ottawa had fewer resources on the ground, given that Canada had decided to close its embassy earlier than some of its peers.
“Canada was in a different position than some of its allies,” said Epp, the assistant deputy minister for Asia.
Their comments follow earlier testimony from senior soldiers who said the effort was hampered by a lack of preparedness and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to call a snap election.
Canada’s final commander in Kandahar during the Afghan war, retired Maj.-Gen. Dean Milner, previously testified that Canada’s embassy staff left “embarrassingly way too fast.”
He had said that’s part of the reason “we only managed to pull out maybe about 15 to 17 per cent of those critical interpreters who soldiered alongside us.”
Chief of the defence staff Gen. Wayne Eyre previously testified that rules restricting government work during elections limited the Defence Department’s ability to publicly communicate.