Australians warned: do not travel to Kabul airport as distressing footage emerges

DFAT joins US, UK in issuing the advice as footage emerges of a bloodied Australian pleading to be let through a Taliban checkpoint.

Footage of an Australian man after he was beaten at a Taliban checkpoint. Picture: Twitter

Australian citizens have been warned not to head to Kabul’s airport in fears of a terror attack ahead of a deadline for Western troops to leave Afghanistan.

The Department of Foreign Affairs updated its advice on Smartraveller overnight, warning people not to head to Hamid Karzai airport.

“Do not travel to Kabul airport. If you’re in the area of the airport, move to a safe location and await further advice,” the advice read.

“There’s an ongoing and very high threat of terrorist attack.”

#Afghanistan: Due to threats outside the Kabul airport, US citizens should avoid traveling to the airport and avoid airport gates unless you receive instructions to do so. Those at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately. https://t.co/InzuVjXhLTpic.twitter.com/6ncsJBEVLu

— Travel - State Dept (@TravelGov) August 25, 2021

Australia joined the US and Britain in issuing the warning, as a distressing video filmed at a Taliban checkpoint in Kabul emerged showing an Australian man with blood running down his face and soaking his shirt as he pleads to be let through.

Disturbingly the footage of the man, who was with some extended family members heading to the Kabul Airport, shows him filming himself saying “I am Australian citizen, they hit me,’’ as he is shown being shoved by Taliban fighters before a shot rings out and the footage ends as the camera angle spins.

Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban.
“They hit me, I am an Australian, not an Afghan.” he says. pic.twitter.com/xxeonh0rFe

— Shafi Karimi (@karimi_shafi) August 25, 2021

The Australian man has a wife in Adelaide and a brother in Sydney and he had arrived in Afghanistan several months ago to visit a sick relative.

A friend of his wife told The Australian: “They are very worried about him. The Talibans mistreat him because he is a Hazara. He has gone home and (is) too scared to go back to the airport.”

The Taliban has begun to stop Afghans from approaching the airport, tightening their checkpoint cordons on approach roads.

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.

Meanwhile Turkey announced that it will reverse an earlier decision to protect Kabul Airport.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country was withdrawing Turkish military personnel, but would maintain talks with the Taliban leaders.” It is important for Afghanistan to stabilise,” Mr Erdogan said. “Turkey will continue to be in close dialogue with all parties in Afghanistan in line with this goal.”

Threat of Isis-K

The warnings issued by the US and UK come a day after Mr Biden referred to a possible attack by the Isis offshoot, Isis-K group.

“Every day we are on the ground is another day that we known Isis-K is seeking to target the airport and attack both US and allied forces and innocent civilians,” Mr Biden said.

Isis-K is a splinter group of Islamic State which has established itself in eastern Afghanistan province of Khorasan.

US fears are that Isis-K may launch a missile attack on an evacuating plane or that suicide bombers might detonate explosives while mingling with the thousands of people crowded around airport entrances.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that there was “a very real possibility of an Isis-K attack”, adding “we are taking every precaution but this is a very high risk’’.

With NCA Newswire