The Department of Foreign Affairs spent a record $84 million on special security at the Canadian Embassy in Kabul prior to abandoning it to the Taliban, documents show. Then-Ambassador Reid Sirrs, who had boasted of security preparedness in Kabul, fled the city the same day it fell to terrorists in 2021.

“The Kabul mission was both the costliest and one of the most dangerous in the department network,” said a department report. “The mission dealt with complex and multifaceted security risks that required self-sufficiency for security and emergency management in an increasingly hostile conflict environment.”