NewZ NewZ with a Zeal
The federal government has acknowledged it may not be able to get every Afghan who helped Australia'a military to safety in time. The national security committee of cabinet will meet again on Wednesday to work on operational plans to evacuate local Afghan employees after the Taliban took Kabul. The rescue mission involves 250 troops and three RAAF aircraft. Veterans Affairs Minister Andrew Gee has acknowledged the tragic situation as Kabul fell to the Taliban, but says Australia had done its duty and fought for freedom. "We have identified those folks who have been working with us, we've also identified the families … by and large," he told Sky News on Wednesday. "It's a very fluid situation over there. Nothing is certain, the situation isn't certain and the reality is we've got young Aussie men and women in harm's way again." "So we're just going to have to watch this very closely, but we've got to get as many out as we can." No flights are expected until the situation at Kabul airport settles. Air force troops will base themselves in the United Arab Emirates while waiting for the Afghan capital to become safer. People swarmed the airport in an attempt to board military flights, with footage showing some falling to their deaths after clinging to planes. NATO video posted online on Tuesday showed the runway empty with American troops on the tarmac. Prime Minister Scott Morrison earlier told reporters support "won't reach all that it should". "On the ground events have overtaken many efforts. We wish it were different," he said. Since April, 430 Afghan nationals who have worked with Australia have been allowed into the country, with a total of 1800 granted visas. There are more than 130 Australians working for the United Nations, non-government organisations and elsewhere still in Afghanistan, which is now under Taliban control. Immigration Minister Alex Hawke confirmed no Afghan visa holder in Australia would be sent home while the situation remained dire. Mr Morrison refused to commit to offering paths to permanent residency or citizenship, but insisted there were no plans to send people into danger. Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said the idea that minority groups like the Hazara community would ever return wasn't realistic. "We need to give them the certainty of Australian citizenship on a permanent basis, rather than some pretence that somehow their circumstances are temporary," he said. The prime minister didn't rule out a special intake of refugees, similar to the 12,000 people granted asylum from Syria in 2015. But he said his immediate focus was on making sure the Australian mission was successful given the desperate situation in Kabul. Greater Darwin and Katherine have been locked down for three days after an American man infected with COVID-19 travelled to the Northern Territory from Sydney. NSW will enter a statewide lockdown from 5pm after the state reported 466 new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 and four more deaths. The ACT’s COVID-19 outbreak has grown to six following the confirmation of two new cases in Canberra including a 14-year-old school student. The NSW government says it won’t place the whole state into lockdown despite increased COVID-19 leaks into the regions and 345 new local cases.
