Separated from her fianc by Afghanistan's collapse, a Canadian begs Ottawa for help

The last few weeks should have been among the happiest of Safia's life.She was supposed to be a new bride by now,on herway to a new life.

Instead, the collapse of Afghanistanand the internment in Tajikistanof her fianc, a former Afghan Air Force pilot, have turned her dream into an ongoing nightmare.

Safia, a Canadian citizen of Afghan origin, told her story to CBC News on the condition that she be identified only by a pseudonym in order to protect her relatives and those of herfianc,who are still trapped in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

Their wedding had been scheduled for the first week of September in Afghanistan. The couple had carried out a long-distance relationship after meeting in the United Arab Emiratesjust before the pandemic. She had planned to sponsor him to become a Canadian citizen after his military service was completed.

'I was terrified'

Instead, SafiaspentAugust watching in horroras the western-backed government of former president Ashraf Ghani dissolved and the hardline Islamist Taliban returned to power.

"I was terrified," she said, describingthe day Kabul fell. "I kept messaging that day back and forth and calling."

Her fianc tried to calm her down by saying the U.S. military would evacuate the Afghan pilots.Thosepilots hadbeentargets of a Taliban assassination campaign throughout the summer,and there was every reason to believe that those capturedin the aftermath of the government'scollapsewould be slaughtered.

It was sheer luck that Safia's fianc was still at the military airbase in Kabulon the day the government fell. He was off duty and should have been home.

Instead, he and dozens of other pilots and ground crew staged a desperate, last-minute escape, fleeingthe capital in their aircraft onAug. 15. Hundreds of former Afghan air force members made itto Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Safia, who was used to getting daily texts and chats from herfianc, was suddenly faced with an ominous silence.

"I didn't know what was happening," she said. "I was scared for him and had no idea what had happened to him."

Her fear only deepened as she watched the horrific images of Afghans clinging to the wheels of departing American transport planes and falling to their deaths.

"My family was comforting me and telling me it was going to be OK, but I had so many different thoughts going through my head," she said.

"I will never forget that night. It was probably the scariest night of my life."

Eventually, she discovered he had made it to Tajikistan. That led tofrantic efforts to get in touch with him and toput his plight and thatof the other interned pilots beforethe Canadian government.

Some of the pilots managed to avoidhaving theirphones confiscated by Tajik intelligence and border authorities. The young couple was able to connect througha borrowed device.

"The first time we talked, it was such a relief. I think I talked less and cried more," Safia said.

CBC News has elected not to identify her fianc because of his internment near the Tajik capital of Dushanbe and the risk thathe and the other internedpilots could be handed over to the Taliban. His identity has been verified separately through U.S. military training records.

CBC News was the first to report on the daring escape of over a dozenformer Afghan military fliers and their plea for asylum in Canada.

Safia has been furiously emailing and calling multiple federal departments andinternational agencies, includingthe United Nations CommissiononHuman Rights.

'I expected so much more' from Ottawa

She said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office told her it was an immigration matter, while Immigration Canada said her fianc does not qualify under the special resettlement programintroduced at the end July for Afghanswho had a direct relationship with Canada's formermission in Afghanistan.

"Of coursehe doesn't fall under that, but that doesn't mean Canada should not help. Canada should be responding to this as well," said Safia, who added she's deeply disappointed by the response from her government.

"I expected so much more from them."

A second immigration measure introduced by the Liberal government which aims to bring up to 40,000 at-risk Afghan refugees to Canada might be an option for her fianc. Buthe remains in Tajik custody, with noaccess to the internet and no way to apply.

Safia is not the only Canadian with a connection to the stranded pilots. The uncle of another flier spoke to CBC News last month. He said he's also struggled to get the attention ofCanadian government officials since the crisis erupted.

A group of U.S. veteranswho have banded together to lobby Congress and the State Department to help the Afghan military pilotshas been in touch with the men dailythrough variousmeans.

Frustrated hopes, low morale

Former U.S. Air Force brigadier-general Dave Hickscommanded the military air training mission in Kabul in 2017 and is part of the non-profit group OpSacredPromise, which is attempting to help resettle former Afghan air force personnel. He said it has been a long, tough road for the interned pilotsover the last severalmonths, and theirmorale is low.

Just under 500 former Afghan air force pilots, ground crew and other military personnel were evacuated from Uzbekistan last month.

Hicks said efforts to extricate the fliers from Tajikistan have been more complicated at the diplomatic level.

"There have been times when we were kind of hopeful, only to be disappointedmore than once," Hicks told CBC News. "It is the kind of situation where we have to let diplomacy play itself out."

He said he and his comrades have taken heart from the fact that the pilots have undergone preliminary biometric scans and fingerprinting in preparation for travel to the U.S.