Australia’s refusal to protect Afghan interpreters from the Taliban is a catastrophic moral failure
The announcement of the withdrawal of coalition forces from Afghanistan followed by the abrupt closure of Australia’s embassy in Kabul has seen those Afghan interpreters, who once stood shoulder-to-shoulder with our diggers, being threatened, hunted and killed.
Interpreters and other locally engaged civilians who worked for the Australian Defence Force and government agencies in Afghanistan have been left to fend for themselves under the Locally Engaged Employee (LEE) visa certification and processing program.
The LEE visa program was initially set up in 2008 to exercise our nation’s moral obligation to those that aided our diggers and were deemed at significant risk of persecution in Iraq. The Afghan LEE visa program is an extension of this; however, it has long been plagued by a lengthy and complicated application process with unreasonable delays in processing applications, often taking many years.
During Australia’s involvement in the conflict in Iraq, those who were deemed “at risk” because of their service to Australian forces received assistance in compiling their visa applications and seeking protection.
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (at the time) worked tirelessly to bring those Iraqi interpreters to safety. The immigration department worked hand in glove with the Australian Defence Force, inserting medical equipment and teams along with immigration officials and others, deployed to assist in compiling and assessing applications and evacuating those deemed at risk and their families.
In 2008, the government at the time, backed by the opposition, had a plan to assist and extract those deemed at risk. The defence minister, at that time, said “Australia has a moral obligation to help those Iraqis”. The oppo
sition immigration spokesman backing the plan stated: “If someone stands by our Australian troops in need we look after them – we don’t leave them high and dry.”
Well, high and dry is exactly how the Australian government is leaving many of those Afghan interpreters who aided our diggers. With no plan, no assurances, and no assistance, Afghan interpreters have been left to fend for themselves.
LEEs are a great example of legal, merit-based immigration to Australia. They respect the rule of law and wait many years, enduring death threats, attacks, and uncertainty. While politicians and government officials in Canberra, using the very freedoms that have been won on their behalf, make decisions, absent of any context of service, mateship, war, or sacrifice.
The veteran and defence communities are watching as this unfolds. As a veteran of the Afghanistan conflict and former army captain, I am appalled by the unreasonable delays in processing applications for our terps.
My interpreter Hassan has been waiting eight years. We lodged his original application in July 2013. I have been tirelessly raising this issue with government since 2016. With the knowledge that my terp is one of many left behind, I founded Forsaken Fighters Australia Inc in 2018 to raise awareness and advocate for our veterans and their interpreters.
I served just shy of two decades, including 10 months in Afghanistan. I have an in-depth knowledge of the LEE visa program’s failings and a long list of both interpreters and veterans that have come to me through Forsaken Fighters asking for my help.
I have crucial information I want to share with those that are in a position to fix this issue, but repeated requests made to ministers to secure a meeting have been denied.
The ignorance of this government sadly comes as no surprise. Repeated attempts to secure a meeting with any minister have fallen on deaf ears, much like the requests from former “fire chiefs” to this government over concerns around preparedness and fuel loads leading into our fire season in 2019.
We all know how that ended and many Australians still bare the scares of that failure.
The LEE issue is not new, indeed our government has known about it for many years. They have failed to review the LEE visa program and address the lengthy processing times and unlawful rejections. This negligence will have an enduring effect on our reputation along with national security, strategic and future capability implications.
Many veterans have recently spoken out on this issue, including a call from the national president of the RSL to speed up processing times. Many more have contacted me personally. The toll and “moral injury” this issue is having on veterans is shocking. I have heard from many veterans who cite the brave actions of the interpreters they worked with, still waiting to hear of news that their mates are safe.
With all Australian troops now out of Afghanistan, the coalition footprint and opportunity to evacuate interpreters and others who remain in danger is rapidly fading along with the opportunity to leave our longest war with dignity and decency.
There will be a great deal of shame felt by many veterans if our government abandon those who our diggers formed close bonds with and assisted them on the battlefield.
I look to those in parliament with any shred of compassion and moral decency to start leading the way on this issue. Those true leaders in government are the ones that know that the privilege is service, and that service is above politics.
Today, interpreters are being actively threatened and killed, at the hands of a resurgent Taliban, because of the assistance they gave to our diggers.
The only reasonable, fair and morally decent thing for the Australian government to do is to be unified in standing by those that stood by our diggers and provide the required assistance, as we did in Iraq.
If we could do it then, we can do it now.