Ottawa sought EU help in Afghanistan after Taliban takeover: documents

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly made the request on Jan. 20, 2022, according to documents obtained through an access-to-information request.

Canada requested use of the European Union’s compound in Kabul to help with tasks such as fingerprinting for those fleeing Afghanistan, according to documents obtained by The Canadian Press.

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly made the request on Jan. 20, 2022, according to documents obtained through an access-to-information request.

“Minister Joly asked EU High Representative (Josep) Borrell about the possibility for Canada to co-locate with the EU in Kabul, in order to conduct biometric screening from their premises,” reads a July 2022 briefing note.

The document says the EU replied in early April 2022, offering space for two Canadian officials in the compound “on the condition that biometric screening be performed in a third location managed by the Government of Canada.”

It notes that one month later, senior bureaucrats for Global Affairs Canada “determined that it would be very difficulty to proceed with the EU offer.”

That may be because there are issues for Afghans trying to access the Kabul compound since the Taliban takeover.

But as of June 2022, the briefing note states “we are still assessing the legal, duty-of-care and operational implications of this offer,” adding there are “significant legal constraints that limit Canada’s ability to re-establish any kind of presence in Kabul.”

The Department of Global Affairs would not say whether it ended up stationing anybody at the EU compound.