Defence has released more images of RAAF’s evacuation of Australians from Afghanistan.
It comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison said four RAAF flights and one New Zealand Air Force flight managed to land at Kabul Airport. In recent hours, a further 650 people were rescued.
“The people who are doing this job on the ground … they are real heroes, compassionate heroes,” PM Morrison told Channel 9.
“They are going through what is an extraordinarily tense time and they are getting people out.
“We’ve been going like we won’t be able to get another flight in the next day, so we’ve been trying to make every flight as successful as possible.
“We’ll keep doing that for as long as we can. If that deadline [31 August] is able to be pushed out, we’ve made it clear to the United States we support that.”
The Taliban has repeatedly insisted the last day of the month is a “red line” for withdrawal, with its forces currently allowing evacuations to take place without interference.
The White House has responded by saying America will decide when its troops leave.
The RAAF has used its C-130J Hercules, KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) and two C-17A Globemasters to lead the mission.
So far, around 1,500 Australians are thought to have been evacuated, but reports of numbers have varied.
On Sunday, PM Morrison described Kabul as being a “very chaotic environment” for rescues.
“We are uplifting not just Australians and Afghan visa holders for Australia, but those from the United Kingdom, the United States and New Zealand,” he said.
“We continue to … get as many people through as we possibly can in the time we have available, as safely as we can.
“I can’t guarantee the situation in Afghanistan. Australia is not in that situation.
“The United States are in a very different situation to Australia. We have to work in the environment as we know it and we have to do the best we possibly can.”
