Fall of Kabul and Kabul airport bombing
On 15 April 2021, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced that the last Australian troops would leave Afghanistan by September 2021, ending Australia's contribution to the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission. Their release said more than 39,000 ADF personnel had deployed on Operations SLIPPER and HIGHROAD, and that 41 Australian personnel had died serving in Afghanistan since 2001. On 15 August 2021, Taliban fighters entered Kabul and took the presidential palace after President Ashraf Ghani left the country (AP).
DFAT says Australia evacuated around 4,100 people on 32 flights from Kabul between 18 and 26 August 2021. It describes the operation as "one of the largest humanitarian airlift operations in our history". On 27 August, Morrison said more than 3,200 of those evacuated were Australians and Afghan visa holders for Australia, and more than 800 were from Coalition partners. He said more than 2,500 people were at Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE and 783 were already in Australia. Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said 3,000 humanitarian places had been allocated for people from Afghanistan.
On 26 August 2021, a suicide bomber attacked Abbey Gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport. The US military's later investigation found that the single device killed at least 170 Afghan civilians and 13 US service members (AP, February 2022). Islamic State claimed the attack. Morrison said the dead Americans fell at "a gate at which Australian Defence Force personnel stood only hours before". He said Australia's last personnel had left "not that long before" the attack. Defence Minister Peter Dutton said: "I can confirm that not too long before the attack Australian troops and the rest of our personnel were wheels up and out of Kabul" (ABC).
Morrison said: "Australia's operations now for the evacuation have been completed." Payne said Australians and visa holders still in Afghanistan should not travel to the airport, and that the government could not yet confirm whether any Australians were affected by the bombing. Morrison said the opportunities for those left behind to get out would be "very restricted".
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