(Ottawa) Foreign Minister Marc Garneau announced that 43 Canadian citizens were on a “special flight organized by the government of Qatar” which flew from Kabul to Doha on Thursday with some 200 foreigners on board .
The minister said they would be repatriated to Canada in the coming days.
The Qatar Airways flight from Kabul to Doha is the first major departure from Afghanistan since the United States and other forces completed their frenzied withdrawal from the country more than a week ago.
Authorities expected the flight to land in Qatar in the afternoon.
“Canada is working closely with Qatar to ensure safe passage for Canadian citizens still in Afghanistan seeking to leave, and we thank them for their continued support,” Garneau said in a statement Thursday. .
“We are working tirelessly, especially in close collaboration with our international partners, to bring home Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their families, as well as the vulnerable Afghans who have supported Canada’s work in Afghanistan,” he said. he adds.
Senior government officials have said they are awaiting the landing of the flight from Kabul to Doha, where Canadian consular officials are expected to keep track of the number of Canadian citizens and permanent residents aboard the Qatar Airways plane.
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, clarified the number of Westerners on the flight and said the new foreign minister and Deputy Prime Minister of the Taliban had facilitated the departure of the plane.
A senior Canadian official said there were not among those on board former interpreters and other Afghans who had previously worked with Canada in the country and who are now desperate to escape for fear of the retaliation from the Taliban.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said the best escape route for these people remains the overland route to Pakistan.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has deployed more staff to bolster the Canadian high commission in Islamabad, the official added, and more people are being sent to help there and to the border with Afghanistan.
Minister Garneau revealed on August 31 that approximately 1,250 Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their families were stranded in Afghanistan following the end of a US-led mass evacuation effort.
Officials later said about 500 of those people were Canadian citizens.
Qatari envoy Mutlaq bin Majed al-Qahtani said 200 more passengers would leave Afghanistan on Friday. A diplomat, who requested anonymity, said foreigners, including Americans, would be leaving in the coming days.
The Taliban have repeatedly stated that foreigners and Afghans with proper travel documents can leave the country. But their assurances were met with skepticism, even with the flight departing from Qatar.
As Taliban officials patrolled the tarmac on Thursday, passengers presented their documents for inspection and dogs sniffed luggage lying on the ground. Some experienced airport workers had returned to work after fleeing during the heartbreaking chaos of the US-led evacuation “airlift.”
Irfan Popalzai, 12, boarded the flight with his mother and five siblings. He said his family resided in Maryland.
“I’m Afghan, but you know I’m from America and I’m so excited” to be leaving, he said.
Before the flight took off, Qatari officials gathered on the tarmac to announce that the airport was ready for the resumption of international commercial flights after days of repairs.
The considerable damage suffered during the violence of the last days of the American “airlift” which evacuated more than 100,000 people raised questions about the timeframe for the resumption of regular commercial service. Experts from Qatar and Turkey rushed to restore operations.