Australians, helpers caught behind enemy lines in Afghanistan

Dozens of Australian citizens and about 1000 Afghans with Australian visas are believed to be still in Kabul, unable to get to the airport in the final days of the airlift.

Australian citizens and visa holders from Afghanistan arrive in Australia this week.

Dozens of Australian citizens and about 1000 Afghans with Australian visas are believed to be still in Kabul, unable to get into the airport as the international airlift from the city enters its final days and the Taliban moves to halt the exodus of the country’s educated elite.

There was rising panic in the Afghan capital on Wednesday, as the country’s new rulers blocked access to the airport, and Joe Biden declared the United States was on track to finalise its withdrawal by his August 31 deadline.

A senior Australian government official said RAAF flights from Kabul could potentially be sustained until Friday before having to make way for the departure of nearly 6000 American and 1000 British troops, and all their equipment.

“We have to reassess the situation every morning. Nothing is set in stone,” the source cautioned.

Another government source said the rescue effort was being complicated by the emergence of many dual Australian-Afghan citizens that were not previously known to be in the country.

“There are a lot of them. They just keep registering,” the official said.

“They’re all people who have got Australian citizenship sometime in the past. They’ve lived here a while and then gone back after the fall of the Taliban.”

After days of chaos in the city, the Taliban said it was continuing to allow foreigners to the airport, but declared Afghans would be prevented from fleeing the country.

RAAF flights airlifted a further 955 people out of the Afghan capital in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning, including about 200 former Australian embassy security guards and their family members.

Afghanistan evacuees at Australia's main operating base in the Middle East board a Royal Australian Air Force KC-30 aircraft bound for Australia.

But an estimated 1000 Afghans with Australian visas – including security guards, their families, former Australian Defence Force interpreters, and Australian university alumni – were yet to make it to safety behind the airport’s walls.

“There is more work to be done but of course we know that the security threats on the ground continue to increase,” Defence Minister Peter Dutton told parliament.

“We take the advice of the (Chief of the Defence Force) as to how long it is possible for us to stay in-country to keep our own people safe, and to help those who have helped us.”

The president of the Australian Afghan Alumni Association, who cannot be named for security reasons, told The Australian the group of about 200 senior Afghan government officials and their family members had received protection visas on Tuesday.

“That is the good news. But we are still waiting for a solution to get to the airport, because access to the airport is not possible at the moment,” he said.

“There are huge crowds which makes access to the Australians difficult, as well as accessing the planes. We need support to find a solution through DFAT to find a way to evacuate.”

However, their chances of escape narrowed after Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the road to the airport would be closed to Afghans, and called on the United States not to encourage people to leave the country.

“This country needs our doctors, engineers and those who are educated – we need these talents,” he said.

An Australian man and his Afghan sister, who also cannot be identified, made it through the multiple Taliban checkpoints in a dramatic dash for the airport on Tuesday night.

The Sydney cabinet maker, who promised his dying mother he would not let his 23-year-old sister fall into the Taliban’s hands, refused to leave her behind amid questions over her yet-to-be-issued visa.

His wife said she was relieved they had made it to the relative safety of the airport, but she was still worried for her sister-in-law.

“They were a little bit hesitant that she doesn’t have a visa on her passport,” she said.

“I have applied for her but it is in the middle of processing. It has only been a week. I put in the application, and then the Taliban came.”

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australian officials were doing everything they could to help Australian citizens and visa holders under extreme circumstances.

“There are very difficult scenes outside Hamid Karzai International Airport. People including women and children are waiting for days amongst crowds numbering in their thousands,” she said.

Military lawyer and Afghanistan veteran Glenn Kolomeitz said more than 300 former Australian embassy guards and their families had been evacuated, of a group of about 1200 people represented by his firm.

Scott Morrison declined to comment on reports the group had been forced to wait in an open sewer after they were turned away at the airport gate by Australian personnel.

Retired Australian Army major Stuart McCarthy said he was in contact with a former ADF interpreter on the ground who had received a message purportedly from a Florida law firm offering to get him into the airport for US$100,000.