Afghanistan live news US UK and Australia warn citizens away from Kabul airport amid terror threat

A plan to reform the Australian defence force’s culture was kept hidden from public view for more than two months after it was approved by Peter Dutton, it has emerged.

The defence department has revealed the plan was approved on 26 May â€" but it was not released until 30 July, when it was posted on the department’s website without any public announcement.

The delay has prompted fresh claims the government has failed to be transparent in its response to the long-running inquiry into alleged war crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.

The Brereton inquiry last year found “credible” evidence to implicate 25 current or former Australian defence force (ADF) personnel in the alleged unlawful killing of 39 individuals and the cruel treatment of two others, with criminal allegations to be considered by the new Office of the Special Investigator.

The new 26-page reform plan shows the chief of the ADF, General Angus Campbell, will consider taking action against commanders for any failures on their part â€" but this may be delayed to reduce any risk to related criminal prosecutions:

The British defence secretary has complained that dealing with the former Royal Marine trying to fly rescued animals out of Kabul has been a distraction from the main evacuation effort, hours after seemingly trying to broker a solution.

On a conference call with MPs on Wednesday, Ben Wallace said that the case meant the military had been “diverted” from their primary focus on saving people. He also claimed that some of the stories about the Ministry of Defence’s handling of the affair had been inaccurate.

His comments, which were first reported by Sky News, go further than what Wallace has already said in public about the attempt by Paul Farthing, known as Pen, to ensure safe passage for 140 dogs and 60 cats being cared for at the Nowzad shelter he founded in Kabul after serving with the British army in Afghanistan:

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is currently holding a press conference.

Afghanistan “remains a highly dangerous environment,” he says.

He says 1,200 people were evacuated on six Australian flights and one New Zealand flight. Australia has been involved in evacuating 4,000 people over 29 flights, which Morrison says is about “three times” what he and Marise Payne had anticipated they could do.

There are a large number who are now accommodated at the United Arab Emirates and we thank the United Arab Emirates for the great support ensuring we can brings people safely there.

There are two transfer flights that are due to depart there today, one arrived this morning, 639 people who have been evacuated are already now here in Australia, including 221 arrived earlier today. Australian citizens, residents and pre-visa Afghan nationals are the priority for transfer flights back to Australia.

The Department of Home Affairs will continue the additional processing that is required for those we have uplifted out of Afghanistan on temporary visas and we will do further processing before they are transferred to Australia.

I want to thank the states and territories for their support in making sure that we have quarantine space available for them to be returned to Australia, that operation will now run for many days yet.

On Wednesday, a stream of military planes took off from the airfield as evacuees lined up on the tarmac, AP reports:

The desperate remained outside, some standing knee-deep in sewage and waving identity documents at Western soldiers in hopes of being allowed to go beyond the barbed wire fencing and onto a flight out.

While the final withdrawal date just under a week away, analyst Patricia Lewis said the practical deadline for the evacuations to stop was ‘the next couple of days.’

‘There’s a huge amount of stuff that has to be done, including getting all the people out who are doing the job and all the equipment,’ said Lewis, who is the director of the international security program at Chatham House, an international think tank.

‘All of the allies are highly dependent on the US for military cover, particularly air cover,’ Lewis said.

‘They can’t put their own people at risk, so it really depends on when the US starts packing up.’

Australian journalist Sally Sara:

Sally Sara (@sallyjsara)

Just received a photo of former Afghan ADF interpreter outside Kabul airport. Face blistered from days in the sun, trying to get inside, despite having an Aus visa. Kids are the same.

August 25, 2021

The US has warned people against travelling to the airport, citing “security threats outside the gates”.

The US warning adds that US citizens who are currently at the Abbey, East or North gates “should leave immediately”.

This advice follows similar warnings from the UK and Australian governments within the last few hours.

The UK and Australian warnings cite “ongoing and high” threats of terrorist attacks, however.

The US warning also asks that Americans currently outside the airport leave.

Here is more on evacuations winding up.

Poland, Czech Republic and Belgium have each ended their evacuations from Afghanistan, but other European nations vowed Wednesday to press on for as long as possible.

What is possible, however, depends largely on the US.

European nations, including American allies Germany and the United Kingdom, had pressed for a longer window to continue evacuations. However, Biden has stuck to the August date, even after an emergency online summit of the Group of Seven nations.

That left European nations with no choice but to abide by the deadline.

“That the overall deployment literally stands and falls with the stance of the militarily strongest member of the alliance, the US, was always clear to us,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech to parliament on Wednesday.

“We will continue the evacuation operation for as long as possible,” she added, without specifying when operations would end.

For now, the US military coordinates all air traffic in and out of the Kabul airport. Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen tweeted that “people with legal documents” will be able to fly out of Kabul airport via commercial flights after the August deadline.

The US Embassy in Afghanistan has warned people against travelling to the airport, citing “security threats outside the gates”.

The warning adds that US citizens who are currently at the Abbey, East or North gates “should leave immediately”.

Travis Akers (@travisakers)

Security Alert - Embassy Kabul: U.S. citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate at Kabul airport should leave immediately because of security threats outside the gates.https://t.co/CYzMDU7OfS pic.twitter.com/ns5idkrFMk

August 25, 2021

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the state department believes there were roughly 6,000 Americans in Afghanistan on 14 August, before the Taliban took control of Kabul.

Since then, about 4,500 Americans had been evacuated, and another 500 US citizens were in contact with the state department about leaving the country.

That leaves about 1,000 Americans who may still be in Afghanistan and are not in contact with the US government. Blinken said the state department is “aggressively” reaching out to those people multiple times a day and in multiple different ways.

The secretary of state noted these numbers were “dynamic calculations” that were being refined hour by hour, as more evacuation flights leave Kabul.

Australia has joined the UK in warning citizens against travelling to Kabul airport, citing dangerous conditions there.The latest update to Australia’s travel advice, posted today, says:

The situation in Afghanistan remains highly volatile and dangerous.

Be aware of the potential for violence and security threats with large crowds. There’s an ongoing and very high threat of terrorist attack. Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport. If you’re in the area of the airport, move to a safe location and await further advice.”

US allies who were part of the coalition in Afghanistan have been winding up their evacuations, the Guardian’s Julian Borger and Peter Beaumont report:

On Wednesday, Turkey said it would start withdrawing the last few hundred soldiers it has posted at the airport. According to Reuters news agency, the Taliban have asked Turkey for technical help in running the airport after the departure of foreign forces, but has said the country cannot have any military presence.

Poland ended its involvement in airlift evacuations from Afghanistan amid growing signs the brief and chaotic air bridge that has rescued tens of thousands of people may rapidly be coming to an end.

With the US and the Taliban insisting that the deadline for withdrawal of foreign forces remains 31 August â€" less than a week away â€" Marcin Przydacz, a Polish deputy minister, said a group it had evacuated to Uzbekistan on Wednesday would be the last.

The Polish announcement follows increasing indications that the evacuation efforts may be rapidly winding down. The UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, said on Wednesday it was clear the troops would be withdrawn by the end of the month, but that it was unclear how many people would be left behind in Afghanistan once that happened.

France’s European affairs minister, Clément Beaune, indicated it was “very probable” that its operations to evacuate its citizens and partners from Afghanistan would end on Thursday.

There was also speculation in the German media that Berlin’s involvement in the airlift could end as early as Thursday, as the German military said the airlifts were now entering “the most demanding and dangerous hours”.

Hungary’s evacuation efforts were also nearing an end after it airlifted just over 500 people from Kabul, said the foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó. “The exact timing will be announced by the commander of the army, which may happen as soon as today,” Szijjártó told a news conference, adding that most evacuees were Afghan nationals who had supported a Hungarian charity or Hungarian troops there.

The UK foreign office has updated its travel advice for Afghanistan, warning against all travel to the country. “The security situation in Afghanistan remains volatile,” it warns.

The foreign office also warned against travelling to Kabul airport:

There is an ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack. Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport. If you are in the area of the airport, move away to a safe location and await further advice.”

Hello, my name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments from Afghanistan, where it has just gone past 3am on Thursday, 26 August.

Here is the key news from the last few hours:

As many as 1,500 Americans remain in Afghanistan, according to Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state. The US state department believes there were roughly 6,000 Americans in Afghanistan on 14 August, before the Taliban took control of Kabul.

The UK foreign office has updated its travel advice for Afghanistan, warning of an “ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack: and advising against all travel to the country.

More than 10,000 people at Kabul airport are waiting to be evacuated according to Pentagon estimates.

The Taliban have agreed to let Afghans leave Afghanistan after the US withdrawal deadline of 31 August, the German military have confirmed.

The Turkish military has begun evacuating from Afghanistan, reports Anadolu Agency, a Turkish state-run news agency.

A group of 200 workers who guarded World Bank projects in Afghanistan for the last 10 years until they lost their jobs last week have sent a desperate plea to the British government to rescue them urgently.

The Taliban threatened and physically abused United Nations staff, according to an internal document seen by Reuters.

British nationals of Afghan origin are being overlooked in the evacuation from Kabul, lawyers and campaigners have claimed

Two thousand Afghan interpreters and others who worked for the British government are still to be airlifted out of Kabul by the RAF, defence sources said as the emergency evacuation reaches its final stages.

The US military airlift will continue until the final hours of the 31 August deadline, set by President Joe Biden, Pentagon officials said earlier today.

The Chinese and Russian leaders, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, have vowed to counter “threats of terrorism” emerging from Afghanistan in a phone call.

Share this post