The Australian government has been accused of waiting far too long to organise a military evacuation mission to Afghanistan, as it sends 250 defence force personnel to the region in a last-ditch bid to help people flee the Taliban.
Amid shock at the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, the Australian government promised to “continue to work with key partners in the days ahead” to seek the safe passage of more than 130 Australians in the country, along with Afghan nationals who worked alongside its troops and diplomats, and humanitarian visa holders.
After chaotic scenes at Kabul’s international airport, one of the few places not under Taliban control, the Australian government updated its travel advice, telling citizens they should “not go to the airport unless told by the Australian government”.
Afghan nationals who previously worked at the Australian embassy are in hiding across the captured capital, fearful of the retribution of a resurgent Taliban. Supporters of the former workers say they are fast losing trust in the Australian government.
An aerial refuelling tanker aircraft departed Queensland on Monday bound for Australia’s main operating base in the Middle East and is expected to provide support to a US-led operation later this week.
The defence department said two large military transport aircraft would also depart for the Middle East later this week, with more than 250 personnel set to be deployed to support the evacuation efforts.
But the timing of any rescue is uncertain, with the defence department saying the situation in Afghanistan remained “highly volatile and dangerous”.
The mission would be “constantly assessed against the latest developments”, it said. This appears to be a concession by the government that it could potentially become too dangerous to proceed with the mission.
A former Australian defence force chief, Retired Admiral Chris Barrie, criticised the government for not moving faster to rescue local interpreters and contractors who supported ADF personnel in Afghanistan.
Barrie told the ABC the “ugly truth” was that “we’ve just left it far too late”.
“I don’t know why we suddenly found ourselves so caught out and unprepared to do the work,” he said.
“There will be reprisals [from the Taliban], there will be paybacks, there will be all sorts of brutalities that, I guess, will dribble out over the next period of time.
“For all of those people who helped us — God help them. God help them.”
Patrick Ryan, a former Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade contractor in Afghanistan, has been advocating for 196 former employees of the Australian embassy in Kabul, who worked as guards and other ancillary staff.
He said the men and their families had been demoralised – and were becoming increasingly anxious – in the absence of any clear indication about their potential evacuation.
“They are all sheltering in place, they have secure folders protecting their documents, luggage packed and ready to go and they have stocked their houses with a couple of weeks of food. They are sheltering in place, but they are shit-scared.”
Ryan, who spent several years working in Kabul, said trust in the Australian government was rapidly eroding.
“We know the government is sending military flights in, we know they are going to conduct an evacuation, but we don’t know if they have the information to get the job done properly, and we don’t know if they have the communication networks to reach everybody.”
Ryan said he hoped a deal was done so that the Taliban permitted people to leave Kabul, which was now the “only way out”. He said if fighting broke out between foreign forces and the Taliban in Kabul, “the potential for violence is extreme”.
Several Kabul sources with links to Australia – hoping to be included on the evacuation flights out – told the Guardian the Taliban were going house to house seeking those who had worked with, or assisted, foreign forces.
“They are doing it everywhere. That is what they have been tasked to do. They ask everybody in the house what they are doing, are they connected with western countries.”
Migration lawyer Atika Hussain, a member of Afghanistan’s Hazara diaspora, said Australia’s 50,000-strong Afghan community had been devastated by the delay in launching an evacuation mission, as other countries pulled out Afghan national staff and offered sanctuary to thousands fleeing the Taliban.
“The way the Australian government turned its back on our people, our family members, the same way with they did with Australian citizens stranded overseas — it was an irresponsible, unforgivable act,” Hussain said.
“They should have predicted this would happen, they should have started evacuating vulnerable people, high-profile people earlier, not waiting until it’s too late. Because the Taliban will target them, will get rid of any individual who will help an uprising against them.”
After convening a meeting of the national security committee on Monday to review evacuation options, Scott Morrison said the situation in Afghanistan was “evolving rapidly” and the government’s priority was ensuring the safety of its citizens.
“We have over 130 Australians in Afghanistan, working in the UN, NGOs and elsewhere, and we are working to bring them and their families home,” the prime minister said in a statement.
“We are also assisting those who have been granted humanitarian visas, and others who are in the process of applying for protection.”
The government insists it has been treating applications from locally engaged Afghan staff as a priority, saying more than 400 people have settled in Australia this year.
But with Afghanistan’s president fleeing the country on Sunday and the Taliban declaring the war over, Morrison described the events as “terrible” and “distressing” and said he was “absolutely devastated” about what the hardline group’s rule would mean for women and girls.
The foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, told Sky News it was a “very difficult day” for the people of Afghanistan, and for the families of 41 Australians who “made the ultimate sacrifice” during the 20-year-long war.
Payne spoke with her US counterpart, Antony Blinken, on Monday morning, and soon afterwards joined dozens of other countries in calling on the Taliban to allow “the safe and orderly departure of foreign nationals and Afghans who wish to leave the country”.
Kabul airport, essentially the only way out of Afghanistan, was reduced to chaos with thousands of Afghan nationals and foreign citizens flooding the airport to seek any way out of the country.
Sources in the city have said for many who served alongside coalition forces – interpreters, guards and other locally engaged staff – the chance to escape Kabul may have already passed. Also likely trapped in the city are “at risk” Afghan nationals, those who had worked for foreign charities or aid groups, journalists or human rights advocates.
Those without a foreign passport will likely find it increasingly difficult to access Kabul airport.
Professor William Maley, emeritus professor at ANU and author of The Afghanistan Wars, said with the government having collapsed and the Taliban controlling checkpoints to the airport, “there’s no guarantee whatsoever or even a diplomatic passport that they will allow people to exit the country”.
Maley said he held little hope the Taliban would act reasonably and allow people – foreign and Afghan nationals – who wanted to leave, to go.
“It’s wishful thinking of the dreamiest variety. If you look at what the Taliban do rather than say, there is no evidence they’ve moderated in any way.”
Australia abruptly shut its embassy in Kabul in late May and finished withdrawing its final 80 troops soon afterwards.
Human rights groups on Monday stepped up their calls for the government to offer a special humanitarian intake of refugees from Afghanistan, and not to send temporary visa holders back to the country.
