3 months after the fall of Kabul and 3 months of Morrison Government inaction

It has been three months to the day since U.S.-led forces, including Australia, withdrew from Afghanistan and Kabul was seized by the Taliban. During this time the Morrison Government has failed to live up to its moral obligation to the people of Afghanistan and failed to act.

Currently in Afghanistan, more than 18 million are estimated to be in urgent need of humanitarian aid and over 3.5 million are internally displaced.

Many people from Afghanistan who worked with Australian forces have not been evacuated or granted visas, despite fearing for their lives and the lives of their families under Taliban rule.

Furthermore, there are 5,100 people from Afghanistan in Australia who are denied permanent residency and are instead kept on temporary visas, leaving the possibility of forced removal back to Afghanistan.

There have been strong calls by the public for an additional humanitarian intake of at least 20,000 to match other countries' responses and Australia’s history of emergency refugee intakes as well as guaranteeing a permanent home for people from Afghanistan already in Australia and their families.

Despite this, the Morrison Government has not provided any additional refugee intake, has not guaranteed permanent protection to people from Afghanistan in Australia, has not expedited family reunion and has not fulfilled Australia’s moral obligation to the people of Afghanistan after a generation-long conflict.

Zaki Haidari, Leadership Coordinator at Jesuit Refugee Services said:

"It has been three months since Kabul was seized by the Taliban. We are still in shock but more importantly, our family remains under the regime that has a history of brutality and mass genocide, especially towards ethnic and religious minorities."

"We are urging the Australian government to please provide us with permanent protection to stop the long emotional suffering, and allow us to sponsor our families and loved ones, before it is too late and the Taliban take their lives."

Sitarah Mohammadi, JD Candidate and Deputy Chair, Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network said:

"Australia made significant contributions to Afghanistan during the last 20 years in areas of civil society, education and the rights of women. As the state of Afghanistan has collapsed, it is therefore important that Australia play its crucial role to help the people of Afghanistan. It only requires a stroke of a pen for the government to grant permanent protection to refugees from Afghanistan on temporary visas living in our communities, to finally have the chance to get on with their lives."

"Our government must also grant at least 20,000 humanitarian visas to those who need our urgent protection from Afghanistan, including Hazaras and women’s rights defenders."

Mariam Veiszadeh, Lawyer and Human Rights Advocate said:

"The reality is that enormous policy failures on our part has cost lives and we simply have not done enough and it really does beg the question as to why that is the case? It’s both cowardly and politically expedient for the Federal Government to drag its feet on this issue for so long, perhaps in the hope that the Australian public will lose interest."

"Simply put we cannot shrug our shoulders at this point and pat ourselves on the back, when we have 100,000+ applications from the people of Afghanistan awaiting responses and over 5000 people within Australia in a permanent state of limbo."

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Media Contact: Sam Brennan, sam.b4@asrc.org.au