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First group of Australians and Afghans is evacuated from Kabul in high-stakes rescue mission as Canberra offers 3,000 visas to refugees fleeing the Taliban

Australia has successfully completed its first evacuation flight from Afghanistan and will take in 3,000 Afghan refugees, Scott Morrison has announced.

The RAAF flight from Kabul to an Australian airbase in the UAE included Australian citizens, Afghan nationals with visas and one foreign official working in an international agency. 

The C-130 Hercules plane touched down at 10.45am eastern time with 26 people on board. 

'This was the first of what will be many flights subject to clearance and weather,' Mr Morrison said.

Evacuees from Afghanistan arrive in an Airbus A400 transport aircraft of the German Air Force in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Evacuees from Afghanistan arrive in an Airbus A400 transport aircraft of the German Air Force in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

The Prime Minister warned the evacuation process would be difficult as the situation on the ground worsens and did not say how many people he aimed to rescue.

'This is not a simple process. It is very difficult for any Australian to imagine the sense of chaos and uncertainty existing right across this country. The breakdown in formal communications, the ability to reach people,' he said.

Mr Morrison also confirmed Australia would offer visas to 3,000 Afghan refugees - but would turn back anyone who arrived illegally by boat.

'We will only be resettling people through our official humanitarian program going through official channels,' he said.

Australia has successfully completed its first evacuation flight from Afghanistan, Scott Morrison announced

'We will not be allowing people to enter Australia illegally, even at this time. Our policy has not changed.

'We will be supporting Afghans who have legitimate claims through our official and legitimate processes. We will not be providing that pathway to those who would seek to come any other way. That is a very important message. The government's policy has not changed, will not change,' he said. 

The 3,000 humanitarian places will focus on family members of Australians, persecuted minorities such as women and girls, children, the Hazara and other vulnerable groups. 

Mr Morrison said one additional C1-30 and two C-17s will soon join the existing C-130 to make regular flights out of Kabul in the coming days.

A team of Australian officials is on the ground in Kabul trying to track down Australians and Afghans with visas to help get them get out.

'I stress how important that is. To get people on a flight and get people on the ground to process this,' the Prime Minister said.

Afghans climb on top of a passenger jet at Kabul's airport on Monday amid chaotic scenes as civilians try to find safe passage out of the Afghan capital after Taliban takeover

Afghans climb on top of a passenger jet at Kabul's airport on Monday amid chaotic scenes as civilians try to find safe passage out of the Afghan capital after Taliban takeover

'This will be done in as orderly fashion as is possible in the circumstances. We need to be very clear who is getting on our planes, who is going to our base and going to come here and live in Australia.

'We have to be very, very clear about that. We are taking all the sensible precautions that moving urgently to address the very real need in these stressing conditions.' 

Mr Morrison described the the situation on the ground as 'uncertain' and Foreign Minister Marise Payne warned the Taliban controlled checkpoints around the Airport. 

'We are working closely with the US particularly the UK, others, Germans included, to try to improve or address those security challenges, those check points particularly, and then the security in terms of access to the airport there,' she said.  

Most of the people Australia was looking to evacuate were in Kabul but not all, Senator Payne added. 

The Taliban terror group took power on Monday when its fighters marched on the capital and government forces fled.

US and UK troops have secured the airport to allow Allies to evacuate their citizens. 

On Tuesday Mr Morrison admitted that not all Afghans who had worked with Australians during the war would be rescued.

'We will continue to do everything we can for those who have stood with us, as we have to this day,' he told reporters in Canberra.

On Tuesday Mr Morrison admitted that not all Afghans who had worked with Australians during the war would be rescued. Pictured: German evacuees

On Tuesday Mr Morrison admitted that not all Afghans who had worked with Australians during the war would be rescued. Pictured: German evacuees

'But, I want to talk openly to veterans that, despite our best efforts, I know that support won't reach all that it should.'

Cabinet's national security committee is meeting daily to discuss plans to extract Australians and Afghans who helped allied forces during the two-decade war.

The ABC reports the rescue mission, which involves 250 troops and three RAAF aircraft, has begun with a military transport plane flying out of Kabul on Wednesday morning.

There are grave concerns the Taliban will hunt down and execute people who helped Australia, the United States and other allies.

Since April, 430 Afghan nationals who have worked with Australia have been allowed into the country, with a total of 1,800 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.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews expects the vast majority of people applying for temporary visas will be approved.

'I'm hopeful there is only a very, very small number, that may require significant security checking,' she told 4BC radio.

Australian Defence Force personnel based themselves in the United Arab Emirates while waiting for the Afghan capital to become safer.

People swarmed Kabul 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.

A C-17 jet carrying 640 Afghan refugees that left Kabul on Sunday night as the Taliban claimed the city. The flight landed in Qatar. The refugees ran up the half-open ramp while US forces were preparing for take-off, according to an unnamed defense official cited by Defense One on Monday. At least one other C-17 has departed the area

A C-17 jet carrying 640 Afghan refugees that left Kabul on Sunday night as the Taliban claimed the city. The flight landed in Qatar. The refugees ran up the half-open ramp while US forces were preparing for take-off, according to an unnamed defense official cited by Defense One on Monday. At least one other C-17 has departed the area 

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.

It comes after thousands of Afghans stormed Kabul Airport in a desperate bid to escape the country.

A video showed desperate Afghans clinging to the sides of a U.S. military plane as it tried to leave the city's airport. 

Another showed people plunging to their deaths from a C-17 transport aircraft. 

Australia joined the war in Afghanistan in November 2001. Pictured: An Australian Platoon from Combat Team Tusk in Afghanistan

Australia joined the war in Afghanistan in November 2001. Pictured: An Australian Platoon from Combat Team Tusk in Afghanistan

Australia joined the war in Afghanistan in November 2001 after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, the worst terror attack in history.  

The US-led coalition swiftly deposed the Taliban government before year's end, but western troops had stayed for 20 years since, dealing with lingering pockets of resistance and trying to train the local army.

At the peak of the war, Australia had 1,500 troops in Afghanistan and in total 39,000 Australian Defence Force personnel have been deployed on Operations SLIPPER and HIGHROAD.

Since the end of 2013, Australia has only maintained a small training force in Afghanistan rather than active combat troops. 

In February the US said it would withdraw by May. The Taliban reclaimed control from the Afghan government over the weekend.  

With AAP 

FALL OF KABUL: A TIMELINE OF THE TALIBAN'S FAST ADVANCE AFTER 40 YEARS OF CONFLICT 

Feb. 29, 2020 Trump negotiates deal with the Taliban setting U.S. withdrawal date for May 1, 2021 

Nov. 17, 2020 Pentagon announces it will reduce troop levels to 2500 in Afghanistan

Jan. 15, 2020 Inspector general reveals 'hubris and mendacity' of U.S. efforts in Afghanistan 

Feb 3. 2021 Afghan Study Group report warns against withdrawing  'irresponsibly'

March Military command makes last-ditch effort to talk Biden out of withdrawal 

April 14 Biden announces withdrawal will be completed by Sept. 11 

May 4 - Taliban fighters launch a major offensive on Afghan forces in southern Helmand province. They also attack in at least six other provinces

May 11 - The Taliban capture Nerkh district just outside the capital Kabul as violence intensifies across the country

June 7 - Senior government officials say more than 150 Afghan soldiers are killed in 24 hours as fighting worsens. They add that fighting is raging in 26 of the country's 34 provinces

June 22 - Taliban fighters launch a series of attacks in the north of the country, far from their traditional strongholds in the south. The UN envoy for Afghanistan says they have taken more than 50 of 370 districts

July 2 - The U.S. evacuates Bagram Airfield in the middle of the night 

July 5 - The Taliban say they could present a written peace proposal to the Afghan government as soon as August

July 21 - Taliban insurgents control about a half of the country's districts, according to the senior U.S. general, underlining the scale and speed of their advance

July 25 - The United States vows to continue to support Afghan troops 'in the coming weeks' with intensified airstrikes to help them counter Taliban attacks

July 26 - The United Nations says nearly 2,400 Afghan civilians were killed or wounded in May and June in escalating violence, the highest number for those months since records started in 2009 

Aug. 6 - Zaranj in the south of the country becomes the first provincial capital to fall to the Taliban in years. Many more are to follow in the ensuing days, including the prized city of Kunduz in the north 

Aug. 13 - Pentagon insists Kabul is not under imminent threat 

Aug. 14 - The Taliban take the major northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif and, with little resistance, Pul-e-Alam, capital of Logar province just 70 km (40 miles) south of Kabul. The United States sends more troops to help evacuate its civilians from Kabul as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says he is consulting with local and international partners on next steps

Aug. 15 - The Taliban take the key eastern city of Jalalabad without a fight, effectively surrounding Kabul

Taliban insurgents enter Kabul, an interior ministry official says, as the United States evacuate diplomats from its embassy by helicopter

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