Turned down by Canada, embassy worker and family safe in Britain

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Heartbreak and joy.

That’s how Ahmad Ferdaws Rahimi — a former security watch commander at Canada’s now-abandoned embassy in Kabul — described finally fleeing his troubled homeland for safe refuge in the west.

“We’re really happy,” Rahimi told the Toronto Sun from London, England.

Happy his wife and five children are finally safe.

But England won’t be the final destination in their harrowing journey — despite dealing with frustrating Ottawa bureaucracy that almost cost them their lives, Rahimi still intends on making Canada their permanent home.

Rahimi was one of thousands of Afghan locals who contributed their talents to Canada’s 14-year mission in Afghanistan.

For years he led security teams at Canada’s embassy and served on the strategic advisory team for Operation Argus — key advisors to Afghanistan’s now-fallen government.

That put him on the Taliban’s hit-list, as evidenced by previous attempts on his life including a 2019 drive-by shooting.

Once a Taliban takeover was imminent, Rahimi accepted Canada’s offer of immigration in exchange for his service.

His application was at the very final levels of completion — a single email from IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) would have earned his family a spot on an evac flight.

That email never came, and nobody could — or would — explain why.

Rahimi and his family were among the thousands who poured into Kabul’s airport on Aug. 15. where he and his children witnessing untold horrors.

Panic. Deaths. A man shot to death in front of his horrified children.

After one last desperate attempt to plead his case on Aug. 20, Canadian officials at the airport turned him away.

Cast into the notorious north gate, Rahimi was comforting his baby son when hey says they were accosted by a Taliban thug, who called him a “foreign servant” before unleashing a brutal beating.

“He beat me on my shoulder,” Rahimi recalled.

“I tried to put myself between him and my wife and children.

“If I had allowed he would have killed us together.”

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A British military officer took pity and brought them inside, where Rahimi’s previous work for a British contractor was enough to guarantee passage.

After hours on the floor of a Royal Air Force A-400, they touched down in Dubai, where a second flight whisked them to Birmingham and then London — where they’re currently in COVID quarantine.

“We couldn’t believe it,” he said.

“We were safe.”

Despite being turned away by Canada and almost watching his family die thanks to Ottawa bureaucracy, Rahimi is still grateful — and plans on making Canada his family’s home.

That is, once the IRCC gets around to sending him that email.