Australian government urged to fast-track protection visas for ADF’s former Afghan interpreters amid fears for lives




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Samandar Sediqi is concerned for other former interpreters who are still in Afghanistan. (ABC News)

The Australian government is continuing to assure Afghan interpreters waiting for a protection visa they are being given “the highest priority in the humanitarian program”.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke told 7.30 that 1,400 visa applications for “locally engaged employees” had been processed since 2012, and 2021 was a “record year” with “180 out since April”.

But the minister would not reveal how many visas were still being processed for “operational and security reasons”.

And there are many Afghans who worked for the Australian government who now feel their lives hang in the balance.

Senator Jacqui Lambie today told the Senate: “It’s absolutely shameful that your government has had seven years to get the job done. The world is watching how we treat our mates. What message does it send to the rest of the world that when you work for the Australian government you take your life into your own hands?”

Clock ticking for those in bureaucratic limbo

As his youngest child burbles away in the background, a former ADF interpreter sits stuck in Kabul and sighs with resignation.

“My older child is 11 years, second one is seven years, third one is five years and last one is my daughter and she is three years,” he said.

His only thoughts now are how to get his family out of Afghanistan safely.

“We are in a grave danger here because we worked for the Australian forces — ADF,” he said.

He asked 7.30 to disguise his identity. Former interpreters have been targeted and killed by the Taliban, which is attempting to retake the country now foreign forces are leaving.

The former interpreter said he first dealt with the Australian embassy in Kabul, and when that shut, the embassy in the United Arab Emirates. Now the Australian embassy in Oman is supposed to be processing their visas. But he says there has only been silence.

“I am waiting on my visa medicals since March 27, 2020 — I haven’t received a medical card yet for [our] visas,” he said.

Calls of anguish

Samandar Sediqi has a new life in Adelaide where his greatest joy is seeing his children return home from school safe each day.

He served nine years with British forces in Helmand province, then with Australian forces in Kabul and was given a protection visa to live in Adelaide in 2016, where he has become the president of the Afghan Association in South Australia.

Mr Sediqi is still in touch regularly with up to 14 other former interpreters and staff who worked for the Australian government (ADF and DFAT), only half of whose visas have been processed but remain in the country. 

“I’ve been contacted many times by the interpreters from Afghanistan,” he said.

“They say they have done their medical, they’ve received their certificate of approval but some of them still worry [about getting] the flight [out].

“I kindly request for the Australian government to speed [up] their process.”

Mr Sediqi is now studying to become a pharmacist, but while serving foreign forces he risked his life many times. Once, as he left the safety of the Australian headquarters, he said he was grabbed and thrown into a car by men he suspected wanted to hand him over to the Taliban.

He survived by leaping from the moving car as it closed in on a checkpoint.

“Due to the risk to my family and to my life, that’s why I fled to Australia from Kabul,” he said. 

Veteran says interpreters kept soldiers alive

Harry Moffitt is an SAS veteran, turned author and psychologist, who was deployed to Afghanistan soon after the September 11 attacks. He served seven tours during Australia’s longest military engagement.

“The interpreters are constantly risking their life without a weapon,” he told 7.30.

“It’s fair to say they’ve contributed to keeping Australian soldiers alive.

“Once you get into the field, they’re right beside you. They walk and patrol beside you, and when you’re fighting with the enemy, they’re also right beside you. They’re critical.”

He also is in contact with interpreters who served foreign forces and who are stuck in Afghanistan, fearing the Taliban is coming for them. 

“We know who they are,” he said. 

“They’ve been employees, so I’d like to think we could locate them in Afghanistan, move them to a safe area while we have a footprint in the country, and extract them while we do the paperwork elsewhere — in the UAE or wherever that needs to be.”

Former chief of defence, Admiral Chris Barrie, agrees wholeheartedly.

“We have to find a way, whatever it takes,” he told 730.

“I would’ve thought we’d be acting with the utmost urgency to try and get this done.

“If any families or any interpreters or any other assistance staff lose their lives to the Taliban in the next few weeks, that frankly is a sacrifice that we should not have to bear.”

Watch this story on 7.30 tonight on ABC TV and iview.

Source: Thanks msn.com