We didn’t abandon Afghans: DFAT

A Senate inquiry will hear claims Australian personnel turned away hundreds of Afghans who were told to come to Kabul’s airport after being issued last-minute temporary protection visas.

Afghans, hoping to leave Afghanistan, walk to the main entrance gate of Kabul airport in Kabul. Picture: AFP

A Senate inquiry on the nation’s withdrawal from Afghanistan will hear claims Australian personnel turned away hundreds of Afghans who were told to come to Kabul’s airport after being issued last-minute temporary protection visas.

Lawyers for Afghan interpreters and security guards who worked at Australia’s Afghanistan embassy will tell the inquiry visa-holders were abandoned outside the airport’s gates despite having valid visas.

The inquiry, proposed by independent senator Jacqui Lambie and agreed to unanimously by the Senate last week, will examine the adequacy of Australia’s withdrawal plans and the support offered to Australian citizens, residents and visa-holders.

More than 112,000 people have escaped Kabul via the US-led evacuation since the Taliban swept back into power a fortnight ago, but following the conclusion of RAAF rescue flights last week, dozens of Australians and an estimated 1000 Afghans with Australian humanitarian visas remain stranded in the country.

The Morrison government refused on Sunday to give information on the number of Australians, permanent residents and visa-holders believed to be in Afghanistan, or to disclose the make-up of 4100 people evacuated from Kabul on Australia’s behalf.

Serious criticism has also emerged suggesting hundreds of those issued Australian subclass 449 temporary humanitarian visas were refused entry to the airport by Australian personnel on the ground.

A DFAT spokesman denied there was any policy to block Australian visa-holders from entering the airport. “The claim any Australian official refused a group of Afghan visa-holders entry on the grounds that officials were only accepting people with visas in their passports is not true,” he said.

But military lawyer Glenn Kolomeitz said the majority of 196 former embassy security guards and their family members – about 1000 people in all – were refused entry to the airport’s Abbey Gate by Department of Foreign Affairs and Australian Defence Force personnel, despite having been issued subclass 449 visas.

“They went to the guys at the gate and were told expressly, ‘Go away, you need a visa in your passport’,” Mr Kolomeitz said of the group, which his law firm represents. “The Australian government demonstrated a lack of duty of care to these Australian visa-holders.”

He suggested the decision was aimed at managing numbers being readied to fly out of the airport. “There is a strong circumstantial case that when the decision was made for Australia to leave well in advance of the US exit, that they wanted to limit the number of people inside the terminal,” he said.

Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong praised the efforts of rescuers but expressed concern over the many Aus­tralians, Australian residents and visa-holders who remained in ­Afghanistan. “During the evacuation, we heard report after report of people with visas who were eligible for flights but were turned away at the airport,” she said.

Senator Wong said Scott Morrison, who held up the final RAAF flight to take on a woman and her baby, should also “take responsibility for the eligible families turned away or left behind”.

“With the departure of ­coalition forces, the Morrison-Joyce government needs to urgently indicate how many Australians and visa-holders remain in Afghanistan and what help is planned for them,” she said.

“This includes working alongside our partners and with neighbouring and third countries to secure safe departure options.”

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the government was looking at possibly extending subclass 449 visas for those who didn’t make it out of Afghanistan. “Home Affairs will be reaching out to those visa-­holders and giving specific instructions. My understanding is work has already started and will continue to ramp up over the coming days and weeks.”