Australia must extend hand to Afghans in need

“We want all Afghans, from all walks of life, to see themselves in a future Islamic system with a responsible government that serves and is acceptable to all, God willing.”

This is how the Taliban announced their arrival in Kabul in August 2021, as they resumed their rule after 20 years of war against the US-led coalition that included Australia. At the time, the great question was the extent to which the movement’s leadership might have changed their outlook over two decades of adversity.

The Taliban’s crackdown on women’s rights has worsened with the administration placing an indefinite ban on women’s university education.

Last week’s decision to bar women from universities, swiftly followed by the Christmas Eve announcement that domestic and international NGOs should suspend their female employees, gave us our answer.

As the protests of extraordinarily courageous women and men in the days since show us, there is nothing Islamic or Afghan about these decisions. All over the world, observant Muslim women, wearing hijab or choosing not to, are availing themselves of full educations and embarking upon careers that enhance the nations they call home and the families they belong to, creating a platform that propels boys and girls to greater heights. To reinforce their grip on power, the Taliban have turned their back on this wellspring of life and progress.

In a joint NGO response with Save the Children and CARE International, the Norwegian Refugee Council noted in its decision to suspend its activities that “without women driving our response, we would not have jointly reached millions of Afghans in need since August 2021”.

Afghanistan is already in a dire state, with more than 20 million people dependent on foreign aid. The Taliban’s return has slowed donations and hampered aid distribution. Using economic sanctions to discourage their misogynistic policies is only likely to compound this crisis.

Beyond outrage and despair, what options do those watching this misery unfold from Australia have? It is hoped, Christmas is not yet totally in our rearview mirror, because the first simple step is to tell those Afghans living precariously among us that there is room at the inn.

That means granting permanent residency to more than 5000 Afghans living on temporary protection visas and expediting the family reunification applications of Afghans who are already accepted as refugees. We should ensure that those interpreters and other personnel so crucial to Australian operations in Afghanistan who are still waiting for the Taliban to knock on their doors are made our highest priority for resettlement.

These belated steps would be a good beginning. But if we are serious about expressing solidarity with Afghans in this dark hour, we need to do more. During the first two years of the pandemic, more than 13,000 visas in the Refugee and Humanitarian Program were never issued – these are opportunities we could now make available to Afghans in need.

We were willing to spend more than $7 billion pursuing war in Afghanistan. For a fraction of that cost we could increase the Afghan refugee intake from the 31,500 announced by the Morrison government earlier this year, with a commitment to swifter processing. Some of those places could be made available to Afghan refugees trapped in Indonesia by then immigration minister Scott Morrison’s 2014 ban on processing applications made there through the United Nations’ refugee agency.

We have seen in the past that welcoming people in this way – whether when Malcolm Fraser accepted those fleeing Vietnam or Bob Hawke decided to grant asylum to students from China after the Tiananmen Square massacre – has strengthened our nation’s fabric and its ability to make connections abroad. And giving residency to those already on our shores would have no impact on boat arrivals, since turning them back has proved so effective.

In Britain, the foundation set up by Australian journalist Yalda Hakim has helped to create fully funded degree places at Oxford’s Oriel College for Afghan women, an avenue our universities could surely explore.

Last year the Refugee Council of Australia envisioned the establishment of a diaspora advisory group on Afghanistan, which the government could consult on diplomatic and humanitarian engagement with Kabul. Such a move would show not only that we recognise the gifts of our Afghan community but also affirm that we believe in Afghanistan’s people and their future, even if the Taliban do not