Scott Morrison condemns ‘evil’ Kabul bombings as ADF exit confirmed
ADF personnel evacuated from Kabul just before the bomb suicide blasts amid warnings of the ‘near certainty’ of an attack.
Australian personnel evacuated from Kabul “just hours” before the suicide bombings that killed more than 90 Afghans and 13 US marines amid warnings of the “near certainty” of a terrorist attack.
Scott Morrison said Australia condemned “the evil, the calculated and inhuman attacks”.
“We join with our American and Afghan friends in mourning their terrible loss, like so many other losses that have gone before them,” the Prime Minister said.
“Like Australians who have been at the same airport and at the same gate … over the course of these operations, these brave young Americans stood at the gate to protect life, to save life, but lost their own in providing a pathway to freedom for others.”
Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the government was unable to confirm whether any Australians had been killed or injured in the bomb blasts, including one near the airport’s Abbey gate which Australians and visa holders had converged on in recent days.
The blasts ripped through security checkpoints at the airport and a nearby hotel about 5pm local time on Thursday (12.30am Friday AEST).
Islamist extremists ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton said Australian soldiers and civilian personnel were “wheels up and out of Kabul” when the blasts went off, after a credible warning shared by Australia and its allies.
“The intelligence was clear to us that if we allowed our soldiers to stay on with the near certainty of terrorist attacks, then we would lose further Australian lives,” Mr Dutton said, confirming Australia’s Kabul airlift had concluded.
Mr Morrison Australia had evacuated about 4100 people over the nine day rescue operation, paying tribute to the United States and Britain for maintaining security at the airport to make the airlift possible.
He said 783 - including Australians and Afghan refugees - were already in quarantine in Australia.
“We were able to ensure the departure of the remaining Australian personnel over the course of last night, not that long before the terrible events that unfolded last night took place,” Mr Morrison said.
“I want to commend all of those who were part of that operation on the ground, be they wearing uniforms, or be they civilians in a public service. I want to commend them for their bravery, first and foremost, for their sacrifice.”
Mr Morrison declined to say how many Australian citizens were believed to remain in Afghanistan, saying the number registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs “has moved around quite a lot over the course even of the past several weeks”.
Senator Payne said there continued to be “an ongoing and high threat of terrorist attacks”, and warned Australians and Afghans with Australian visas who remained in Kabul to move to a safe location.
Kabul mission ends
Australia’s civilian evacuation operation from Afghanistan was abandoned after overnight explosions by terrorists at Kabul’s airport.
Dozens of Australian citizens and at least 1000 Afghans with Australian visas had remained outside the airport’s perimeter on Thursday but it is unclear how many remained trapped and if any of them were killed or injured in the twin blasts.
Mr Dutton and the ADF confirmed all Australian military personnel and other government officials had already left Kabul and are “safe” in the UAE but he said the Australian military evacuation mission had now concluded.
Mr Dutton said it was too early to tell if any Australians or Australian visa holders were killed or injured, however no Australian Defence Force personnel or government employees involved in the evacuation missions were killed or injured.
“Our soldiers have departed from Kabul. We took the decision to lift the last of our people yesterday. They are safely in the UAE,” he told Sky News.
“We’re just devastated, particularly for the US personnel who our people have been working alongside right up to hours before this event.”
Mr Dutton said it would take “some time” to determine how many Australians and locally engaged Afghan staff were unable to be evacuated.
#BREAKING: Peter Dutton has confirmed that there are NO Australian soldiers left on the ground in Afghanistan, in the wake of a series of suicide attacks at Kabul airport. #9Todaypic.twitter.com/yeyJJOJoMZ
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) August 26, 2021
Mr Dutton confirmed Australians would not conduct any more rescue missions from Kabul, amid the fraught security situation.
“I’m just so grateful for the work of the SAS, our commandos, those from regiments, the DFAT staff, our Home Affairs staff,” he told Sky.
“There are no NATO forces or other forces that have provided security to keep the airport safe. There have been 4000 plus American troops there holding that airport along with the British troops. They have provided stability.”
Mr Dutton said without the US troops in Kabul Australia would not have been able to evacuate the 4000 Australians and Afghan nationals.
Mr Dutton flagged that Australia could support the US in retaliatory action against the terror group.
“The president has been very clear in his message to those who have done harm, not just to Afghan citizens but to the US troops as well. They should heed that advice before they contemplate their next form of attack,” he said.
An Australian warning on Thursday mirrored advice by the US and other allies of “an ongoing and very high threat of a terrorist attack” near the airport, halting the rescue effort. The exact nature of the threat was not disclosed, but it reportedly involved a potential terror attack by an Islamic State affiliate.
The warning halted travel to the airport and dispersed thousands of Afghans, including many with foreign visas, who had waited for days in squalid and dangerous conditions in the hope of getting on an evacuation flight.
Senior Australian officials said late on Thursday they hoped a small number of additional civilian passengers could be evacuated before the wider military withdrawal, but warned the evacuation effort had become “very difficult”.
As the window for the civilian evacuation was closing, Scott Morrison said Australia was already moving to a “post-evacuation resettlement phase” to provide sanctuary for those who were yet to make it out of the country.
“Right now, we are seeking to get people out of Kabul and then we will move past that mission to the next phase, which would see us resettle additional people not just this year, but in the many years ahead,” the Prime Minister said.
British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Afghans still wishing to flee the country should attempt to escape over Afghanistan’s borders, rather than braving the dangers at the capital’s airport.
With more than 1500 US citizens still believed to be in Afghanistan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken signalled the Biden administration would use economic and diplomatic pressure to keep the door open for more to escape.
About 7000 military personnel need to be evacuated before Tuesday’s deadline, while US military commanders are reportedly now weighing up whether to extract billions of dollars worth of helicopters and other military equipment, or use the space for people.
About 1200 people were evacuated from Kabul on six Australian flights and one New Zealand plane in the 24 hours to Thursday morning. But as the window for the civilian evacuation closed, Mr Morrison declared: “The situation is deteriorating.”
Amid growing panic in the capital, video emerged of an Adelaide man filming himself with blood dripping down his face after an apparent beating by Taliban militants. A friend of his wife told The Australian: “They are very worried about him. The Taliban mistreats him because he is a Hazara. He has gone home and (is) too scared to go back to the airport.”
The Prime Minister declined to comment directly on the incident, saying it would not help the man’s case.
“It is a highly dangerous situation. We have been very honest about the nature of these challenges and the likelihood of being able to achieve everything that we would hope to achieve,” Mr Morrison said in defence of the government’s effort.
“But we have to deal with the reality – the terrible, brutal and awful reality – of the situation on the ground.”
Nearly 90,000 Afghans and foreigners have now fled Afghanistan via the US-led airlift since the hardline Islamist Taliban movement took control of the country on August 15.
In its warning of a possible terrorist attack, issued on Thursday, the US State Department said: “Those at the Abbey Gate, East Gate or North Gate (of the airport) should now leave immediately.”
US analysts fear Americans, possibly including Christian missionaries, could be used as hostages in negotiations between the US and the Taliban regime, potentially dwarfing the crisis with Iran in 1979 when 52 Americans were held hostage.
Additional reporting: Adam Creighton
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