Afghanistan updates: Australian man hit by Taliban in Kabul as DFAT issues warning
Scott Morrison has said 1200 people were evacuated on six Australian flights and one NZ flight, as those trapped in Kabul have been warned not to go to the airport.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said 1200 people were evacuated on six Australian flights and one New Zealand flight, as those still trapped in Kabul have been warned not to go to the Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Mr Morrison and Foreign Minister Marise Payne have said their travel advice changed as the airport has become more “dangerous” and there is an ongoing and very high threat of a terrorist attack.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has warned situation in Afghanistan remains highly volatile and dangerous.
“Be aware of the potential for violence and security threats with large crowds. There’s an ongoing and very high threat of terrorist attack. Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport,” she stated.
“If you’re in the area of the airport, move to a safe location and await further advice. Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families should register with DFAT.
DFAT’s advice also stated: “Take all extra precautions for your safety. Remain vigilant and be aware of your surroundings. Our ability to provide consular assistance to Australians remaining in Afghanistan is severely limited.”
Australia has been involved in evacuating 4000 people over 29 flights, which Mr Morrison said is about “three times” what he and Ms Payne had thought they could do.
He said he would do everything to get more people out, but the situation in Afghanistan was deteriorating.
“But we have to deal with the reality, the terrible, brutal and awful reality of the situation on the ground,” he said.
“Now I have not sought to overtake expectations about this operation. At any step, I have been very clear, I have been very honest and I’ve been very candid about that. And that is difficult for the government to be daily making decisions, as I said the National Security Committee has been meeting every single day, and on many occasions more than once.”
Ms Payne also added: “We do understand that this is an extremely distressing situation for Australians, Australian family members still in Kabul, people with visas and for family and friends who are here in Australia.
“We remain focused on the safe evacuation from Afghanistan for as many Australians and Visa holders as possible, for as long as possible.
“Access to Hamid Karzai International Airport is extremely limited, it is extremely challenging in terms of checkpoints and difficulties in those processes, particularly through restrictions imposed by the Taliban of the movement of Afghan nationals and this has been a difficult period for Australian officials.”
Mr Morrison said 639 people evacuated from Afghanistan have already arrived in Australia to begin quarantine.
“I want to thank the states and territories for their support in making sure we have the quarantine space available,” he said.
Mr Morrison said there had been an “almost zero” level of Covid-19 among the evacuees from Afghanistan, but people were being assisted with other health needs including helping them to cope with the trauma of the Taliban take over and their escape.
‘I’M AUSTRALIAN’: TALIBAN ATTACKS
New video footage has emerged of a man claiming to be an Australian citizen who was “hit” by the Taliban, as he begs to be let through a checkpoint in Kabul.
The video, which has been circulating on social media, features the man with blood all over his face and shirt.
He is seen on camera with other family members while saying: “I am Australian citizen, they hit me.’’
The man was reportedly trying to get to Hamid Karzai International Airport with his cousins. The video shows him being pushed around by Taliban fighters before a shot is heard and the footage ends.
According to the Mail Online, sources said the Australian man has a wife in Adelaide and a brother in Sydney.
He went to Afghanistan recently in June to visit a sick relative.
There are fears the man and his family members have been taken away and they may never reach the airport.
The origins of the footage are also unknown.
It comes as Taliban leaders said Tuesday they will no longer allow Afghans to enter the airport after thousands mobbed the country’s exit.
Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban.
— Shafi Karimi (@karimi_shafi) August 25, 2021
“They hit me, I am an Australian, not an Afghan.†he says. pic.twitter.com/xxeonh0rFe
It comes as the Pentagon revealed that US helicopters made additional rescue missions into Kabul to help stranded Americans reach the airport, which is encircled by a sea of would-be refugees and ringed by Islamic fundamentalists checking IDs.
Army Major Gen. Hank Taylor said Wednesday at a press conference that “last night, during the period of darkness, there was an operation to be able to go out and safely evacuated evacuees back into Kabul [airport].”
US DETAINS ISIS MEMBERS WITH TERROR TIES
The US has reportedly detained a suspected ISIS member and flagged another 100 Kabul evacuees who triggered potential matches on intelligence agency watch lists as having potential terror ties.
Security Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar has held one of the Afghans flown out of Kabul airport for looking “like a potential member of ISIS”, which intelligence agencies are “still working through”, a US official reportedly confirmed to Defence One.
Up to 100 were also pulled aside for further screening after they triggered the US Defence Department’s Automated Biometric Identification system at bases throughout the Middle East and Europe, a second official told the outlet.
US Customs and Border Patrol have pulled the 100 Afghans aside for further screening of identification and biometric data as counter-terrorism agents cross-reference law enforcement databases, the official added.
Old technology in the region is has slowed the process to screen out potential terrorist threats, leaving the flagged Afghans stranded at bases as they wait for approval of Special Immigration Visas.
Agents have struggled to integrate out of date systems with Defence Department databases as thousands of Afghans flood in from Kabul for processing on their way to US military bases Fort Bliss in Texas, Fort McCoy in Wisconsin and Fort Lee in Virginia, it was reported.
1000 EVACUATED FROM KABUL AMID TALIBAN THREATS
The screening backlog comes as Australia evacuated more than 1000 people from Afghanistan early Wednesday amid the rush to meet the August 31 deadline of US troops withdrawals.
Four more flights took off from Kabul airport, bringing the total number evacuees under Australia’s mission to 2700.
A third flight of evacuees landed in Adelaide early Wednesday, taking the total brought to Australia after being flown out of Kabul to 419.
Almost a hundred Afghan men, women and children will spend the next 14 days in hotel quarantine.
The emergency flight landed at Adelaide’s airport about 4am Wednesday, with four buses taking people to the Hotel Grand Chancellor to quarantine.
It’s understood the 89 Afghan nationals were granted humanitarian visas.
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the situation was deteriorating by the hour.
“It’s been a tremendous effort from those people on the ground,” she told 4BC radio on Wednesday.
“It’s in excess of what we’d ever thought we would manage in a week.”
BIDEN STICKS TO AUGUST 31 DEADLINE FOR WITHDRAWAL
On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said the evacuation mission of Americans and Afghan allies by the deadline was dependent on the Taliban allowing access to the airport.
“We are currently on a pace to finish by August 31. I am determined to complete our mission,” he said.
“The completion by August 31 depends on the Taliban continuing to co-operate and allow access to the airport to those who are transporting out and no disruptions to our operation.”
“The sooner we finish the better,” Mr Biden said.
Contingency plans will be in place to stay past the deadline, he said.
But he added “each day of operations brings added risks to our troops”.
“They’re real and significant challenges that we also have to take into consideration. The longer we stay starting with the acute and growing risk of an attack by a terrorist group.”
The US has evacuated 70,700 people from Afghanistan since August 14.
The Taliban has banned all Afghan citizens from trying to leave the country from Kabul airport effective immediately and ordered women to stay at home after again warning western forces to depart by the August 31 deadline.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the terror group’s chief spokesman, said in a press conference on Tuesday (local time) the group will “not accept” any extension to the deadline, and from now on only stranded foreigners will be able to reach the airport in the coming week to board NATO and Western planes.
“The road to Kabul airport is closed for locals and open to foreigners,” he said.
“We fully assure the locals and tell them to return to their homes. We are not in favour of allowing Afghans to leave.”
He added that women have been told to stay at home for their own safety, saying: “It’s currently for their benefit to prevent any ill treatment.”
Mr Biden decided to stick to the August 31 deadline after talks with G7 counterparts who wanted an extension to the evacuations and a demand by the Taliban that the United States not extend its stay past the end of this month.
Speaking about foreign citizens in Afghanistan, Mujahid reiterated the deadline implemented by Mr Biden which other world leaders fear is too soon to carry out the evacuations.
“All people should be removed prior to that date. If [western countries] wish to remove people before then, they can,” he said.
“[But] after that we will not allow people to leave, we will take a difference stance.’
He spoke a day after another Taliban spokesman – Suhail Shaheen – warned of ‘consequences’ if western soldiers overstay their welcome.
It means that the nearly 6000 US troops who have taken control of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai international Airport since August 14 have just seven days to wind up their operation and exit.
The decision comes a day after officials in Germany, Britain, France and other countries expressed hopes that the United States will keep the airlift going after the end of the month to enable all of their local staff as well as their nationals to get out.
But the G7 leaders, in a video conference early Tuesday, apparently agreed to stick to the deadline that Biden set in April.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said after the meeting that the Taliban must “guarantee” safe passage for those fleeing — even beyond the August 31 deadline.
Mr Johnson, who convened the emergency G7 meeting, said that he and his colleagues had agreed “a road map for the way in which we’re going to engage with the Taliban” in the future.
Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby said that the Islamist group was sending the same message in private communications as it was publicly.
“The Taliban have been very clear about what their expectations are,” Mr Kirby said.
“The public and private statements are the same; without getting into details, I’m not seeing much dissonance,” he told reporters.
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