Former Canadian Forces interpreter calls on govt. to evacuate Canadian’s loved ones from Afghanistan

CALGARY — On Aug. 31, 2021, US and UK forces will hand air traffic control over to the Taliban, leaving less than two weeks for Afghans to escape the country.

Canadians with loved ones in Afghanistan are worried about whether or not their friends and families will be able to get to the airport in time.

A former interpreter with the Canadian Armed Forces — who now lives in Calgary — says the government needs to accelerate the process of helping those people because many fear their friends and family will be killed.

Safiullah Mohammad Zahed is from Kabul, and was an interpreter in Afghanistan for six years, working with Canadian, Dutch, British, and US special forces and speaks English, Pashto, Dari, Farsi, Hindi and Urdu.

“As soon as I knew a little bit of English, there were opportunities laid out to me to become an interpreter,” Zahed says. “Everybody wanted to help, but at the age I was and the education that I had, this was the only place where I could help.”

Zahed says he’s been shot, blown up, and in all sorts of danger, but thankfully hasn’t been seriously injured. He says as an Afghan living in Canada, it’s difficult to see the situation unfolding.

“Looking around the world, everybody is living in peace, then you see your own country living in war,” Zahed says. “Not just for one or two years — but for 40 years.”

He says it’s especially difficult being able to foresee the type of life that awaits those who remain in Afghanistan after the US and UK forces withdraw from the country.

Zahed says he and about 800 other interpreters have contacted the government about evacuating the loved ones of Canadians out of Afghanistan.

Canada has already agreed on a process to bring friends and families to the country from Afghanistan through its resettlement program — the government has promised to take in 20,000 refugees. Zahed says that isn’t happening quick enough — and with parliament dissolved, there isn’t anyone to reach out to in order to get results.

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“We are requesting the government to accelerate this process before they are killed,” Zahed says. “Even if there is a process after that date (Aug. 31), if there is a plane on the ground, our families will not be able to go to the airport because they have to go through lots of Taliban checkpoints.”

Zahed then outlines a hypothetical scenario where an Afghan family may have to present documentation to the Taliban in order to get on the road to the airport.

“‘Ok this is my paperwork, and I have a plane to catch to Canada’,” he says. “That’s not something that someone will dare to do.”

Zahed says videos on social media have been shared with him showing the Taliban beating people trying to get to the airport, he says when the US and UK forces leave the airport at the end of the month, the Taliban is unlikely to let anyone else leave the country by plane. Afghans who’ve worked with any US or foreign forces in the past have officially been offered amnesty, but Zahed says that’s simply untrue.

“At night, they go house by house searching for any documents that are related to the government or to NATO forces,” Zahed says. “Personally I had to burn all of my documents back home.”

Zahed says he contacted his family who are still in Afghanistan to help him dispose of any sensitive materials, he says he had to make sure over video that everything was properly burned and destroyed. He also says Canada could stand to let more than the promised 20,000 refugees into the country, however, Justin Trudeau says that may be almost impossible.

Speaking in Victoria, B.C., the Liberal Leader says Canadian troops are on the ground in Afghanistan and planes are ready to bring people to Canada, however, there are challenges.

“The limit, however, is not on Canadian capacity, on Canadian space in airlifts,” Trudeau says. “The limit on getting people out is the fact that the Taliban continue to block access for Afghans wishing to flee the country.”

Trudeau says the way things are now in the region, Canada will get some people out, but it will be next to unthinkable to evacuate everyone we want to by the end of August.

Zahed had one final message for the government of Canada.

“We understand that government has lots of things to do, you know, they are busy with an election and everything,” Zahed says. “But, again, this process needs to be prioritized because people’s lives are at stake.”