Canada is now using a newly approved air bridge to evacuate thousands in Afghanistan fleeing from the Taliban in Kabul, Canada’s immigration minister said Sunday. By the federal government’s count, he said “12 flights and a little more than 1,100 individuals” have been flown out so far.
“We have reached an air bridge agreement that allows Canadian-bound Afghans to board allied air carriers and in turn, allied bound Afghans to board Canadian planes,” Marco Mendicino said.
“This means that Canada has the ability to leverage more evacuation capacity through the air bridge jointly established by the coalition.”
Read more: ‘We need your solidarity’: What the Taliban takeover means for Afghanistan’s women and girls
Mendicino said he as asked for “accelerated” processing of Afghans looking to come to Canada, and that “all red tape be cut without compromising security.”
Canada and the United States have been scrambling to evacuate citizens and Afghans who fear retribution after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan last week, in a stunning rout that left thousands rushing onto the tarmac of Kabul’s international airport in a desperate bid to escape.
Canada has pledged to evacuate 20,000 Afghans in the past, many of which are now refugees in fear of retaliation from the Taliban. Not all 20,000 are expected to arrive this year, and Mendicino said Afghans will have to find their own way out of Afghanistan to designated areas in order to be flown out since the Taliban controls checkpoints in and out of the country.
In the meantime, the U.S. has said that 18 Boeing 777-300s, which can carry around 400 passengers in each aircraft depending on the planes’ layouts, will be used to help transport people who have already been evacuated from Afghanistan.
More to come…