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Calgary candidate demands Trudeau provide answers after Afghanistan mission ends

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CALGARY -

A Calgary candidate in the federal election is calling on the Trudeau government to respond to questions about the end of the military mission Afghanistan and the evacuation effort since the Taliban reclaimed power.

Michelle Rempel Garner, who is running for reelection in Calgary-Nose Hill, says there is an "untold number of Canadian citizens, Afghan interpreters, support staff and their families who will be trapped in Afghanistan."

She wants the government to put a number on how many lives are at risk and she wants to know what the plan is to bring people to safety.

Rempel Garner adds there needs to be immediate action as the deadline for the United States to pull out all its remaining troops is Aug. 31, leaving a lack of western forces to help with evacuations.

In an interview with CTV News on Thursday, she said she was beyond frustrated for the affected people she's spoken with, and the federal election has prevented her from calling emergency meetings with the ministers of defence or immigration for answers.

"I've worked with genocide survivors before and I know what is going to happen there, and I don't like being in a situation where I don't have answers," she said.

"So all I can do is try to draw national attention to this and beg and plead that (Trudeau) tells Canadians what the plan is, because I think any Canadian watching those flights leave and watching what's happening on the ground right now, their hearts should break."

On Thursday morning the acting chief of defence staff said the Canadian mission is over.

The Canadian military evacuated 3,700 people before the last plane left the Afghanistan capital of Kabul. The federal government is still trying to determine how many Canadians might still be left in that country.

Cindy Termorshuizen, the assistant deputy minister at Global Affairs Canada in charge of consular, security and emergency management, said hundreds of Canadians and permanent residents and their families made it out of Kabul on Thursday night.

She said there were large numbers of Canadians on Canadian and allied aircraft and that her department is combing through the numbers and flight manifests to "gain a clearer picture" of how many might have been left behind.

The government is aware of people who have ended up in third countries, and Canada's entire network of foreign embassies and high commissions is on alert to track them down, she said.

The Trudeau government has set a goal of resettling 20,000 Afghans in Canada.

Eyre said Canadian personnel will have to reflect on whether all the efforts expended in Afghanistan were worth it, but that Canadians made a difference in thousands of lives.

Daniel Mills, assistant deputy minister with the Immigration Department, said visa applications for Afghan citizens who applied for them are still being processed.

Mills said the department received 8,000 applications under its special program for Afghans and 2,600 of those people made it out of Afghanistan. But that doesn't mean the rest are still trapped inside the country, because some of those applicants have already fled to third countries.

With files from The Canadian Press

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