Prime Minister Scott Morrison flies into UAE base to thank heroes of Afghanistan evacuation

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has visited his nation’s troops in the Middle East to salute “some of Australia’s proudest days”.

Scott Morrison has made a flying visit to the Middle East to thank the Australian troops who rescued thousands of people during the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.

The Prime Minister stopped at the Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday as he returned from the G20 and COP26 summits in Europe.

The base is our nation’s defence hub in the region and processed 4100 Afghans, who Mr Morrison said were now Australians living in their new home.

Speaking to the troops at Camp Baird, he said it was a “great honour” to thank them in person for their efforts in Australia’s largest ever airlift from “one of the most dangerous places in the world”.

Australian authorities had initially only expected to be able to evacuate 1000 people as the Taliban took control of the capital of Kabul.

“It was, I think, some of Australia’s proudest days,” Mr Morrison said.

“It was the innovation, it was the determination, it was the professionalism, it was the training, it was the dedication that you have spent all of your service preparing yourselves for a time such as that.”

“In that moment, our defence forces and all of those who served were not found wanting.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison grabs a selfie as he thanks Australian troops involved in the Afghanistan evacuation. Picture: Adam Taylor (supplied by the Prime Minister’s Office).

“What we found is you excelled, you exceeded the expectations.”

Among the troops the Prime Minister met was Akram Saleh, who came to Australia as a refugee from Eritrea in 2006 and now lives in Melbourne.

He said he had been stationed at Al Minhad since May, and that being involved in the Afghanistan rescue mission had been “very special”.

“There is no word to describe it,” the 38-year-old said.

“To reflect on my life 10 years ago … I was glad to be a part of this mission.”

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade crisis response team chief Trudy McGowan told Mr Morrison how one group of 89 Afghans had brought only six bags between them.

“This shows just how little they brought and how fast they left,” she said.

Mr Morrison is expected to land in Sydney on Thursday morning but the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow runs until the end of next week, as world leaders try to thrash out a deal to keep global temperature rises below 1.5C by the end of this century.

Summit host and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “cautiously optimistic” after the first two days of summit, in a change of tune from the end of the G20, which saw major polluters including China, Russia and India reject key commitments for stronger action.

But Mr Johnson said there was still “a long way to go”, particularly on persuading China to bring forward its pledge for emissions to peak in 2030.

“You bet we need more progress from China … and everyone here at this gathering,” he said.

US President Joe Biden was more pointed, declaring it was a “big mistake” for his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping – as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin – to skip the summit attended by more than 120 leaders.

“We showed up,” Mr Biden said.

“They didn’t show up … It is a gigantic issue and they just walked away.”

Asked if he shared that view, Mr Morrison said Australia was not at COP26 “to lecture others”.

“The approach Australia took to COP26 was to talk about what we were going to do and how we were going to particularly work with other countries to meet the technology challenge of addressing climate change,” he said.

“Whether it’s in China or whether it’s in Indonesia or Australia, indeed in the North Atlantic developed countries, unless you get the cost of this technology down, rather than focusing on putting the prices of energy up everywhere else, then you are not going to get countries actually achieving the things they say they want to achieve.”

Labor leader Anthony Albanese criticised Mr Morrison for having “nothing to say of value” at COP26 “compared with the challenge that the world faces from climate change”.

“What we need is global action. And Australia should be a part of that process rather than being a handbrake,” he said.