Bureaucratic red tape leaves Canadian embassy security worker stranded in Kabul

Ahmad Ferdaws Rahimi was a watch commander attached to the security forces at the Canadian embassy in Kabul, and strategic advisor to Afghanistan's now defunct coalition-backed government during Operation Argus. This puts him and his loved ones at serious risk for reprisal killings by the Taliban.

“I’ve been threatened and targeted two times, but fortunately I survived,” Rahimi told the Toronto Sun. “During the past week, I haven’t slept.” He hasn't been able to board an evacuation flight because Canadian officials insist that arrangements be made to formally fingerprint him.

“We are impatiently waiting to get email from IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) to schedule biometrics,” he said. “They will not permit us to board any plane unless we get an official email.”

With gunfire echoing out at the outskirts of Kabul International Airports, and armed insurgents combing the streets, the risk to journalists, ethnic minorities, Afghan interpreters and others designated as 'collaborators' by Taliban is extremely high. Many are now stranded helplessly watching as Canadian evacuation flights depart Kabul's airport, the only remaining transport hub in the hands of coalition forces.

As the sun set in Kabul on Sunday, Rahimi and his family — part of growing throngs of interpreters and Canadian embassy workers massed at Kabul’s airport — grow more desperate.

“Please, please help,” he messaged Passifiume. “Please, somehow help.”