So, the Department of Foreign Affairs held a secret ceremony honouring former ambassador to Afghanistan Reid Sirrs..Sirrs and other diplomats were recognized for their service leading up to the fall of the capital Kabul to the Taliban on Aug. 15, 2021, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.. Ambassador Reid SirrsCourtesy Twitter .Only the federal Liberals could justify a back-patting ceremony for Sirrs, who abruptly fled with staff on a half-empty Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) plane. He left behind helpless people at the mercy of the merciless Taliban — with no Canadian embassy presence on the ground..Where’s the honour in abandoning the 1,250 Canadians there? Or the thousands of Afghans who at great risk loyally helped Canadian troops in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014 as part of the NATO coalition?.They were promised protection. Canada knew the Taliban, hellbent on revenge, would hunt down them and their families. Canada scurried away..The Taliban that had been moving across Afghanistan, worked its way to Kabul that was under siege. Other Western embassies moved their staff onto Kabul’s Hamid Karzai airport..Ambassadors from the US, UK and France stayed in their posts..The Canadian embassy was abruptly closed, and Sirrs and staff fled on Aug. 15. Canada was the first country to hightail it out..Why the secrecy about the ceremony? Did the party planners fear this get-together would be scorned?.There was no public announcement about the Oct. 26 Afghanistan Evacuation Recognition Ceremony..Why not let Canadians — who dug deep into their pockets when the Liberals denied funds for food, safe houses, and made escape a bureaucratic nightmare for those stranded in Afghanistan — join in to applaud their diplomatic efforts?.Why not give us a peek at the secret guest list and esteemed honourees?.Sirrs, who was rewarded with a nice post to Buenos Aires after Afghanistan, presumably flew back to Canada to receive his accolades..Were any of the Canadian heroes — with Aman Lara, Afghanistan Strategic Evacuation Team, Veterans Transition Network, Journalists for Human Rights, Afghan-Canadian Interpreters, former Canadian soldiers and volunteers who stayed behind enemy lines to save lives — invited to ‘share’ the honours? How about the British diplomats and soldiers who helped Canadians when Canadian diplomats went AWOL?.They all worked beyond exhaustion to first try to avert, then clean up the mess — that included saving lives — Sirrs left behind..“On October 26 the department held a ceremony to recognize the efforts of public servants during this extremely complex and challenging evacuation operation,” reported Blacklock’s Reporter..“Many have demonstrated outstanding commitment in difficult conditions. It was an emotionally charged situation for all those involved and some still carry this emotional weight to this day.”.Sure, the carnage in Afghanistan was emotionally charged and difficult. No doubt, it was more emotionally charged, terrifying and difficult for people Canada walked away from..No one leaves a volatile situation like that unscathed. But not everyone — whose obligation was to provide lifesaving help as a deadly, rising storm approached — would flee on a half-empty military airplane..But Canada was incompetently AWOL long before that plane took off..The Liberal government ignored repeated pleas starting months earlier from retired Afghan vets and aid groups, aware of the deepening threat, to make all efforts possible to start moving people out..As the Taliban that had conquered swathes of Afghanistan advanced where was Sirrs?.Well, the month before Kabul fell, he was on Global Affairs approved leave apparently taking a stress break. Foreign Affairs sealed the documents detailing why Sirrs took leave at a crucial time, citing the evidence as “too sensitive” for public consumption..His break and the early evacuation earned the disgraced Sirrs condemnation from many, including several retired Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) generals who had commanded Canadian and coalition troops in Afghanistan..All agreed that Canada’s bungled exit brought shame to our nation..If Sirrs himself made the decision or was following orders, he didn’t say when testifying before the Commons Special Committee on Afghanistan on March 21, 2022..“We could hear explosions. We could see fires all over the city,” said Sirrs..He added that it was “obvious that the city was coming under siege” and it was “far too dangerous for us to stay put.”.Sirrs watched the ensuing carnage from a safe place..“We all saw on TV it was two planes after ours that the people were hanging off the airplane when people fell off of it. So, it was quite close for us,” he said..Of course, getting Canadian personnel to safety is paramount. That doesn’t justify an evacuation leaving people behind in the chaos with no one to speak to the Taliban on their behalf or process their paperwork or issue emergency visas..Retired Maj.-Gen. Dean Milner testified that “we were the first embassy to depart” and that “was embarrassing for a lot of us on the ground.”. Major-General (Ret’d) Dean MilnerCourtesy Al Charest .Closing the embassy “way too fast” added to the “confusion and the chaos of trying to do the coordination of this mission,” he said..“Canada had left too little time to do the job right,” testified Wendy Long, director of Afghan-Canada Interpreters. “Any hope for a swift but orderly evacuation went out the window, effectively leaving thousands behind.”.Foreign Affairs first claimed all Canadians were safely out, then admitted Canadians were stranded. The military suspended all rescue flights by Aug. 26, 2021..Months before the Taliban takeover, appeals were made to the Liberal government by Jim Thomson — class secretary of the Royal Military College Class of ’66 — to “act immediately,” to safely extract 10,000 Afghans “who risked their lives in Afghanistan to assist our troops, government officials, and NGOs during our time in that country.”.Hundreds of letters written by many were futile. Meanwhile, interpreters and former Afghan employees at the embassy were pleading for help to get them and their families to safety in Canada..Two years before he was sent to Afghanistan Sirrs, then Foreign Affairs director of general security, bragged about Canada’s consular staff emergency preparedness training..“If you’re dealing with Afghanistan, you’re talking about a terrorist attack of some type. These exercises prove to be very valuable for informing our emergency management plan,” he told a Senate committee..Well, that didn’t pan out well, did it?.Canada’s abysmal response to the Afghanistan crisis doesn’t rest solely on the shoulders of one ambassador..Retired general Rick Hillier — easily Canada’s best chief of the defence staff — told CBC that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s handling of the crisis was “so cluttered by bureaucratic clumsiness, bureaucratic inefficiency, bureaucratic paperwork.”.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended Canada’s pathetic performance claiming the Taliban overtook Afghanistan with surprising speed. "I think a lot of people on the ground and around the world thought there would be more time," he said..No! Canada ignored warnings and pleas from retired generals and people on the ground. Canada’s sluggish response to efforts over years to get loyal Afghans out is a disgrace..And then the ambassador ran away..And for that he was honoured. If Sirrs had any humility he’d have passed on the ceremony and stayed in Argentina..The Taliban has been busy. It wiped out women’s rights. In May the United Nations called on the Taliban to end public floggings, stoning, and executions of men, women and boys that started as soon as it took control..The unrepentant Taliban’s foreign ministry said these punishments for ‘crimes’ such as theft, adultery, homosexuality and running away from home were in accordance with Islamic law..Imagine the fate that befell Afghans loyal to Canada left behind when a half-empty aircraft made an escape?.How many of them are still alive? We’ll never know.
