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An Afghan refugee who has been detained by Australian immigrants for more than eight years pleaded for his release so that he can return to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and rescue his family after the U.S. forces withdrew on Tuesday.
This refugee can only be identified as FGS20 for the safety of his family. This is a pseudonym used in court proceedings. After the US army invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and overthrew the Taliban government, he worked with coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, as the Taliban took back a city in Afghanistan one after another, FGS20 submitted an emergency evacuation visa application for his wife and four children.
Then, as the Taliban advance to the Afghan capital Kabul, the lawyers of FGS20 take The Australian government went to court to seek an urgent ruling.
But the government led by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday that it could not decide whether to grant a category 203 emergency rescue visa until the United States withdraws all its troops from Afghanistan on August 31.
Increasingly desperate, FGS20 stated that he formally requested to “please” and “immediately” return to Afghanistan on Thursday, stating that he “needs to travel tonight.”
However, the Australian government has not yet responded to this.
“[The] The Australian government wants to kill me here, in detention,” FGS20 said, referring to desperate thoughts of suicide.
“And… the Australian government gave the Taliban a chance… to kill my family.”
“We failed so many people in Afghanistan”
FGS20 fled Afghanistan in 2013 and arrived in Australia by boat with the purpose of seeking asylum in the country with his family.
“A generation [thought] A generation [would spend] Maybe a month or two [in] Detained,” he said. “Two months later, I [would] go [the] Community [and] Take my family to a safe country. “
Instead, he was detained by Australian immigrants for more than eight years. The first six years of FGS20 were spent in the notorious offshore detention center on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea.
Then in 2019, he was taken to Australia for treatment. Since then, he has been held in a series of detention centers and alternative places of detention (APOD) across the country.
During this period, FGS20 stated that he lost 15 Taliban relatives, including his brother.
“Every time I [heard I’d] Lost one of my family members,” FGS20 said, “I [couldn’t] Do…do nothing. “
Australian citizen Jane Alcorn was called his “Australian mother” by FGS20, and she said she would never forget the day FGS20 lost her brother.
“I remember when he called me, it was noon and I was in the store,” Alcon said. “I’m sitting in the car because I can’t figure it out for a minute… I know [was] Yes, but I can’t believe it… and [FGS20] It’s so sad, you can’t imagine. “
The Taliban, which controlled Kabul on August 15th, have granted amnesty to former government officials and pledged to respect women’s rights and media freedom. But there have been reports that Taliban fighters have targeted people who have worked with the United States or NATO forces.
Confidential threat assessment Ready The United Nations stated on August 25 that Taliban fighters went from house to house, set up checkpoints, and threatened to arrest or kill relatives of “collaborators” in major cities.
‘Moral obligation’
Refugee lawyer and human rights advocate Atika Hussain (Atika Hussain) said Australia has a “moral obligation” to evacuate the families of Australian citizens and residents, regardless of whether they have a visa.
She said that this obligation extends to FGS20’s family, because the protection he receives as a refugee should extend morally to his immediate family, because the Taliban have controlled them and they are also in danger.
She believes that Australia’s rescue efforts have failed, and the evacuation started too late and ended too early.
“We have failed many people who are still in Afghanistan,” she said.
Prime Minister Morrison stated that the Australian military has evacuated 4,100 people from Kabul, including 3,200 Australians and Afghan nationals holding Australian visas.
The Australian airlift ended on Friday, shortly before an Islamic State member of ISIL in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K) detonated his explosives outside Kabul Airport, killing more than 100 people Afghan civilians pouring into the airport. Desperate to leave this country.
The Australian Human Rights Commission “urges the government to consider expanding Australia’s resettlement program to include specific Afghans”.
The committee recommended that the Australian government accept another 20,000 Afghan refugees, especially considering the ISKP attack.
Al Jazeera contacted the Ministry of the Interior and the Australian Border Force to comment on the FGS20 case, but did not respond at the time of publication.
FGS20 watched this unfolding in the Park Hotel APOD and was helpless. He said he was under tremendous pressure. He now feels that his family has little hope of being rescued.
“My son asked me, if you don’t plan to help me, you will come back [we will] Die together,” he told Al Jazeera. His son is only 14 years old.
“Before America leaves, [the] The Australian government must send me back [to Afghanistan],” he added.
He said that after the United States withdrew, “it’s over.” “A generation [won’t] Have family. “
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