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Afghan Interpreters, Others Fast-tracking to Canada

Is max passenger capacity of a C-117 approx 188? To evacuate 20,000 would be 106 loads.
 
Is max passenger capacity of a C-117 approx 188? To evacuate 20,000 would be 106 loads.
As someone who's spent the last 3 weeks just tracking the numbers of ~3,000 people flying out of relatively hard-to-get-to communities to a variety of different places in Ontario - where nobody's fighting a war - I don't think it's as simple as that. I can only guess it would be a lot more complicated getting that many people out of someplace that's (assuming Kabul-Toronto) +10,000K km away in a LOT more messy circumstances.
Especially when it seems to have struck the political good-idea fairies as a good plan so late in the game.

Nice idea - would have been nicer before the Taliban were hanging their "Mission Accomplished" signs in Pashto here and there - so let's see how it unfolds ....
 
Devils advocate.

What will removing 20,000 women leaders, human rights defenders, journalists, persecuted religious minorities spell for Afghanistan?

One of the rallying calls we heard over and over was that we were helping women in Afghanistan. Making it a better place for young girls and young women.

So what will Afghanistan look like with the women leaders and human rights defenders gone? Is it callous to suggest Afghanis need to deal with the Taliban on their own, if they want change.

Will taking away educated and moderate people from their society make it even worse for the people remaining?
 
I hate to state it this baldly, Jarnhamar, but those women leaders, human rights defenders, journalists and persecuted religious minority would be gone one way or another - better that it be our way rather than the Taliban's.

I do wholeheartedly agree with you that if the Afghanis don't want the Taliban, they have to deal with them on their own - but it would be bloody as you would basically need a complete revolt of the population against a small heavily armed group that usually doesn't take no for an answer and believes that killing is no big deal since the victims are either going to Allah or straight to hell where they were heading anyway, and that life on earth is just a small passage that doesn't matter anyway.
 
The executions we are about to witness will rival …, I don’t have a comparison to quote. It will be bloody and very public
 
Devils advocate.

What will removing 20,000 women leaders, human rights defenders, journalists, persecuted religious minorities spell for Afghanistan?

One of the rallying calls we heard over and over was that we were helping women in Afghanistan. Making it a better place for young girls and young women.

So what will Afghanistan look like with the women leaders and human rights defenders gone? Is it callous to suggest Afghanis need to deal with the Taliban on their own, if they want change.

Will taking away educated and moderate people from their society make it even worse for the people remaining?
To reiterate what Oldgateboatdriver said, either they are out of Afghanistan alive in Canada, or they are dead in Afghanistan, either way Afghan society will not be having their influence much longer.
 
... What will removing 20,000 women leaders, human rights defenders, journalists, persecuted religious minorities spell for Afghanistan?

One of the rallying calls we heard over and over was that we were helping women in Afghanistan. Making it a better place for young girls and young women.

So what will Afghanistan look like with the women leaders and human rights defenders gone? Is it callous to suggest Afghanis need to deal with the Taliban on their own, if they want change ...
Very good point, especially since that was part of the argument against pulling even more people out of Afghanistan earlier on in the fight.

Which is better, though: opposition in exile*, or videos of people being killed with English subtitles saying, "See what a good job you did protecting them?" and local language narration saying "see what happens when you trust outsiders to help you out?"

* - Realizing, of course, that some oppositions-in-exile are more effective and less splintery/infighting-y than others
The executions we are about to witness will rival …, I don’t have a comparison to quote. It will be bloody and very public
Yup - and social media-y, too.
 
Very good point, especially since that was part of the argument against pulling even more people out of Afghanistan earlier on in the fight.

Which is better, though: opposition in exile*, or videos of people being killed with English subtitles saying, "See what a good job you did protecting them?" and local language narration saying "see what happens when you trust outsiders to help you out?"

* - Realizing, of course, that some oppositions-in-exile are more effective and less splintery/infighting-y than others

Yup - and social media-y, too.

Apparently, it begins.


The story sounds plausible but it is, in my opinion, undermined by the photo. The photo "feels" a bit photo-shoppy.

I don't doubt the terror on the ground or the real need to pull out the interpreters and their familiies. That should have happened long ago, once the decision to pull out was obvious.

It is just that in this gray world I don't know much of anything anymore.
 
Roll credits...

Taliban enter Kabul, president reportedly flees Afghanistan

U.S. Embassy being evacuated; insurgents control all border crossings in country​


Taliban surround Kabul after capturing Jalalabad​


Taliban fighters entered Kabul and sought the unconditional surrender of the central government, officials said, as Afghans and foreigners alike raced for the exit, signalling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan. 10:54

Afghanistan's embattled president left the country on Sunday, joining his fellow citizens and foreigners in a stampede fleeing the advancing Taliban and signalling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan.

The Taliban, which for hours had been on the outskirts of Kabul, announced soon after they would move further into a city gripped by panic throughout the day, as helicopters raced overhead to evacuate personnel from the U.S. Embassy.

Smoke rose near the compound as staff destroyed important documents. Several other Western missions also prepared to pull out their people.
Civilians fearing that the Taliban could reimpose the kind of brutal rule that all but eliminated women's rights rushed to leave the country as well, lining up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings. The desperately poor — who had left homes in the countryside for the hoped-for safety in the capital — remained in the thousands in parks and open spaces throughout the city.

President Ashraf Ghani flew out of the country, two officials told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief journalists. Abdullah Abdullah, head of the Afghan National Reconciliation Council, later confirmed in an online video that Ghani had left.

"The former president of Afghanistan left Afghanistan, leaving the country in this difficult situation," Abdullah said. "God should hold him accountable."

 

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson set to recall Parliament this week from its summer recess for an emergency session to discuss the situation.
Trudeau calls an election.

No way at this stage is everyone we want out can be "processed" and evacuated. What process did the 20,000 Syrians go through?

You can bet the number Afghanistan evacuees will be kept secret.
 
If Afghani's were provided with the means to defend themselves, would they revolt again the Taliban?
 
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