We have a quorum. Welcome, everybody, from beautiful British Columbia. It's particularly nice to see that the Honourable Erin O'Toole is with us on this committee.
Welcome, Mr. O'Toole.
I am going to call this meeting to order now. Welcome to meeting number nine of the House of Commons Special Committee on Afghanistan, pursuant to the House order of December 8, 2021. Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format pursuant to the House order of November 25, 2021.
I would like to remind all those present in the room to please follow the recommendations from the public health authorities as well as the directive of the Board of Internal Economy of October 19, 2021, to remain healthy and safe.
Should any technical challenges arise, please advise me as we may need to suspend for a few minutes to ensure that all members are able to participate fully.
The witnesses should also be aware that translation is available through the globe icon at the bottom of the screen, where they can select their language of choice. Because of bilingualism, French and English are available simultaneously.
Now on behalf of the committee members, I would like to welcome our witnesses today.
For the first panel we have former interpreters for the Canadian Armed Forces: Mr. Ghulam Faizi, Mr. Hameed Khan and Mr. Ahmad Shoaib. I hope I pronounced those right.
For the witnesses, you will have exactly five minutes to speak. Please be respectful of the time so members can have as much time as possible to ask you questions.
Now we will proceed with Mr. Faizi, for five minutes.