Afghanistan Committee on April 4th, 2022

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, when it comes to the planning, we sent in a military team at the request of Global Affairs for the—

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

When did you send in that military team?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I authorized it on April 1.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Did they fly into Kabul shortly thereafter?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I don't have the exact date—

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Shortly thereafter, they flew into Kabul.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. I can't—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

[Inaudible—Editor] being the minister, you understand—

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Yes, I understand.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Instead of having a fight, if we can have a respectful conversation through the chair, I would really appreciate that.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Sure.

I just want to clarify this for the record. Shortly after you authorized it on April 1, a military team went into Kabul.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, I got the request. The following day it was approved. I don't remember the exact date, but it was as quickly as possible.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Sure. It was within a couple of days or so.

When was that plan completed?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

The team went on the ground. This was a very fluid situation, obviously, in monitoring what the security needs were.

There was no plan right at that time to evacuate even the embassy staff. Because we had a team on the ground, we could understand the situation much better.

Mr. Chair—

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Let me ask the question differently. Was the plan completed by June 1?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, this is not a typical thing where you're creating an actual plan.

Based on the situation on the ground, first we assessed in terms of.... As the situation was deteriorating, we shifted the focus immediately to trying to bring as many people back.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Okay, that's fine.

When did you receive intelligence that Afghanistan, particularly Kabul, was going to fall?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, I don't remember the exact time frame for it. We were monitoring the situation at that time on a daily basis, hence the reason we—

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

You don't recall the date that you received—

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I don't have the date offhand.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Okay, thank you.

Mr. Chair, the government went into caretaker mode on Sunday, August 15, which was the same day the writs were issued by the Governor General for the general election. This was the same date that Kabul fell.

My question for the minister is, how did the minister's involvement in the evacuation change because of the shift into the caretaker convention?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, my responsibility as the minister of defence did not change. I continued to work on the evacuation.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

There was no change after August 15 because—

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I continued to work until our airplanes could not bring any more people out.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

In other words, there was no change in your role or responsibility with respect to the evacuation out of Kabul after August 15. Is that correct?