Hon. Pamela Wallin: Senator Gold, many of us were relieved to see the British Parliament’s honest review of their process of withdrawal from Afghanistan, admitting it was a disaster and a betrayal of Afghans.

We, on the other hand, have suggested we could have acted with “greater prudence.” That would be to risk painful understatement. Our diplomats fled, Afghans were misled, abandoned and had their documents destroyed — not to mention their homes, families and lives — and some were left to be murdered by the Taliban. Not only did the evacuation fail, but so too has the transition and resettlement.

We have a plane landing tomorrow with a few hundred more Afghans. Why can we not get on top of this and do what we are morally obligated to do, which is to provide safe passage for those who protected and served our military?

Senator Wallin: Senator Gold, we are alone among our allies for not carving out an exemption for charitable work so that payments, direct or indirect, to Afghans do not violate the Criminal Code because we are somehow dealing with a terrorist state. Are we carving out an exemption or making a necessary change to the anti-terrorism law so that this situation can be avoided? What specifically are we doing?