Resumed commercial flights are being relied upon as an option for getting remaining Australian citizens and visa holders out of Afghanistan.
Key points:
- No more Australian military flights from Kabul are planned
- Australian citizens and visa holders in Afghanistan are being urged to register with DFAT
- Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews says commercial flights will resume in "days or weeks"
The final Australian military flight departed Kabul late last week, just hours before bomb blasts killed nearly 200 people near the airport.
It is not known exactly how many Australian citizens and visa holders remain in Afghanistan and are keen to come to Australia.
Those people are being urged to register with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), but exact numbers of how many have already registered are not yet available.
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said Australia was still working with the United States and the UK, but getting people onto remaining flights run by those countries will be difficult.
She said another remaining possibility was waiting for commercial flights to resume.
Supplied: Commonwealth of Australia Department of Defence
)"Over the coming potentially days or weeks, commercial flights will restart in Afghanistan," she said.
"Clearly, they've been paused, but our understanding is that at some point those commercial flights will start again.
"So, there are opportunities to bring these people here."
Ms Andrews said Australia was also working with the UNHCR and International Organization for Migration, as they still have a presence on the ground in Afghanistan.
The Taliban have indicated that "every Afghan with legal documents" will be able to travel abroad once the civilian part of the Hamid Karzai International Airport reopened.
Official Australian advice to those in Kabul remains that there is an ongoing and very high threat of a terror attack.
Ms Andrews suggested those currently in Kabul find somewhere safe to stay and avoid the airport.
"That [advice] is not to go to the airport," she said.
"If you are in the area of the airport, you need to go to a safe place, and you need to follow DFAT's instructions."
Australia's military operation 'concluded'
Australia will not be joining the United States in launching strikes against ISIS-K figures in Afghanistan, in response to the recent terrorist attack.
The US announced on Saturday that a drone strike killed an ISIS-K "planner" in eastern Afghanistan.
Ms Andrews said Australia was focused on getting people out of Afghanistan.
"[The US] will continue, I'm sure, to defend as they see fit their operations in Afghanistan," she said.
"Our operations have now concluded and our focus is on resettling people from Dubai here to Australia, and settling those people who are already here."
She said there was no current prospect of Australia aiding the US in further strikes, should they occur.
"There's no suggestion at this point in time that Australia is going to take any such action," she said.
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2021-08-28 09:25:29Z
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