An Australian dad-of-three beaten by the Taliban while scrambling to reach Kabul Airport has made a desperate plea to Scott Morrison to save his life, as his wife begs ‘our kids need him’.
Farid, who was born overseas but lives and works as a barber in Adelaide, travelled to Afghanistan in June to visit his sick mother before the war-torn nation fell to Islamic militants less than two weeks ago.
Distressing video of the father-of-three emerged on Tuesday showing blood streaming from his face after being assaulted trying to make his way to Hamid Karzai Airport along with his cousins – thought to include three men and two women.
Now in hiding and with grave fears it’s ‘only a matter of time’ before Islamist militants hunt him down, Farid shared a heartbreaking video message pleading for help.
Farid, an Australian citizen, was beaten bloody by Taliban guards at a checkpoint in Kabul on Wednesday, after the Taliban vowed to block any more people from going to the airport. He lives in Adelaide but had been visiting his sick mother in Afghanistan
‘I am an Australian citizens. A father, a husband and a brother,’ he said in a video broadcast by Nine News.
‘Myself and my cousin and I were attacked by the Taliban yesterday. I injured my head. I plead for my country and for my Prime Minister Scott Morrison to urgently protect me.
‘My life and my cousin’s life are in danger. I ask my government to please step in and save my life.’
Back home in Adelaide his wife Kolsoum shared her pain and anguish over the situation, revealing he had travelled to Afghanistan to see his sick mother.
‘I just want him to come back. We love him. He is a father of three kids. Our kids need him,’ she said.
Relatives say he will continue to be targeted by the brutal regime because he belongs to the ethnic Hazara group – a Shia Muslim minority within Afghanistan.
The Taliban are mostly made up of the Pashtun tribal group.
Farid (pictured with wife Kolsoum and their children) was born overseas but lives and works as a barber in Adelaide. He travelled to Afghanistan in June to visit his sick mother before the war-torn nation fell to hard line Islamic extremists
‘Our kids need him’: Kolsoum said she desperately wants her husband (pictured, together) and father of their three children to return home
So far about 3,000 desperate Australians have been rescued from the failed state since it fell on August 15.
Overnight 1,200 people were evacuated from Afghanistan on four Australian and one New Zealand flight.
The cohort included Afghan visa holders and people from allied nations escaping the chaos in the capital.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday said the number had far exceeded the government’s expectations going into the mission.
‘It is a highly dangerous situation, we have been very honest about the nature of these challenges and the likelihood of being able to achieve everything that we would hope to achieve,’ he told reporters in Canberra.
‘But we have to deal with the reality. The terrible, brutal and awful reality of the situation on the ground.”
Relatives say Farid will continue to be targeted by the brutal regime because he belongs to the ethnic Hazara group – a Shia Muslim minority within Afghanistan
That harsh reality was confronting captured in the viral clip which showed Firad with blood running down his face and splattered across his polo shirt, crying out that he is an Australian citizen who was trying to reach the airport.
‘I am an Australian citizen but they hit me,’ the bloodied man says, the video cutting out with the sound of gunshots and screaming.
The man’s brother, who lives in Sydney, told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday that he has been repeatedly calling his sibling – but his phone is switched off.
Kolsoum told the ABC she had briefly managed to get in touch with her husband after the incident, but several hours have passed since she heard from him.
Desperate Afghans waded through a sewage ditch on the outskirts of Kabul airport on Wednesday while pleading with soldiers guarding the opposite bank to put them on a plane out of the country as time runs out to flee Taliban rule
Troops force back a desperate Afghan man trying to enter the airport (left) while hundreds of others stand up to their knees in a filthy drainage ditch as the plead to be allowed to board flights out of the country
Fears are growing that crowds could try to storm the airport once civilian mercy flights stop, or that opportunistic terrorists could attack the densely-packed crowd
‘I was devastated. I was thinking, what should I do? What can I do?’ she said.
Relatives heard claims of Islamist militants going ‘door to door’ since.
‘His life is in major danger and it’s only a matter of time for the Taliban to find him,’ his cousin told the Mail on Thursday.
A source close to the family said that one of the women accompanying the Farid had a phone hidden under her headscarf.
She has since messaged her Australian relatives to say the family has been split up and sent to different locations.
Biden has committed the US to withdraw by August 31, a decision that western allies warn will mean thousands of Afghans who were promised sanctuary being left behind
The Taliban has said it will now block all Afghan citizens from reaching the airport, meaning that those who are not already outside the gates face little prospect of being able to escape
American troops and their allies have evacuated some 70,000 people from the airport since the Taliban took power on August 14, but the effort falls far short of the more-than 100,000 that western nations had promised to take
It comes as Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued urged its citizens not to head to the airport as the situation deteriorates further in the Afghan capital.
‘Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport. If you’re in the area of the airport, move to a safe location and await further advice,’ the department said.
‘The situation in Afghanistan remains highly volatile and dangerous.’
Farid’s assault took place despite Joe Biden demanding that the Taliban ‘allow access to the airport for those who are transporting out and no disruptions to our operations’, in return for withdrawing US troops by August 31.
Keeping to that deadline means civilian mercy flights will have to stop in the coming hours so that planes can be diverted to evacuate troops.
A US marine comforts a child at Kabul airport as the evacuation operation nears it end, with US allies saying flights could stop within the next 24 hours
A US marine carries a child towards an evacuation aircraft at Kabul airport as the final mercy flights depart the country
Some European nations have already ended their mercy missions. Poland has stopped flights, and both Hungarian and French jets are expected to take off for the final time within hours.
That has sparked renewed desperation among crowds of refugees at the airport, with hundreds of Afghans wading into an open sewer underneath walls where western troops stand guard today – waving papers at them in the hopes of being picked up.
Fears are now growing that civilians could rush the runway and trigger a deadly stampede in a repeat of the horror scenes from last week, or else opportunistic terror groups such as ISIS could attack packed crowds – fears that will only grow as troop numbers dwindle.
British foreign secretary Dominic Raab admitted that the UK’s mercy mission is now into its final hours with some 4,000 people – 1,250 western citizens and 2,500 Afghans – still left to rescue, though he did not say exactly when the final flight will leave or how many people may be left behind.
Mr Raab was also forced to admit that the coming days will present ‘maximum danger’ for British troops, fearing both a ‘Saigon’ moment with crowds rushing planes and threats of a ‘spectacular’ terrorist attack.
But, Mr Raab insisted, Britain will keep flying planes out of the country until the last possible moment in the hopes of getting as many people out as possible.
One British soldier, speaking anonymously to the Daily Telegraph, said his ‘biggest fear’ is a stampede at the airport and that ‘the civilians might try and get in any way they can and potentially put us all at risk.’
‘Unfortunately the quantity of civilians arriving is something we cannot control, with the majority of them not being eligible to be evacuated,’ he said, adding: ‘I and many others have seen a few mentally disturbing scenes. I think there will be more of that.’
Outlining rough plans for the British withdrawal, defence sources said the first move will be for troops to leave the Baron hotel where they have been processing paperwork of those wishing to leave the country.
Next, soldiers will hand over control of Abbey gate – located on the south east side of the airport – to US forces.
But exactly how and when they will leave the airport entirely is being kept a closely-guarded secret, amid fears that the news of a full exit could spark a rush of desperate people at the gates.
Underlining the risks, one defence source told The Telegraph: ‘It could be the airfield gets compromised by a massive incursion. It could be that the Taliban have an element that wants to put up a fight in the last days. It could be that ISIS wants to do a ‘spectacular’.’
Meanwhile Angela Merkel – who was first elected Chancellor in 2005, just four years into the war – gave a speech to the German parliament summing up the conflict as she prepares to leave power later this year.
Admitting that leaving Afghanistan now leaves her with a ‘bitter’ feeling, she insisted the west’s 20-year campaign had not been in vain and that trying to bring democracy and stability to the region was ‘worth doing’.
In a shot at Biden’s decision to withdraw, she added: ‘That the overall deployment literally stands and falls with the stance of the militarily strongest member of the alliance, the U.S., was always clear to us.
‘We will continue the evacuation operation for as long as possible, in order also to make it possible for Afghans who worked with us for security, freedom, the rule of law and development to leave the country.’
She did not give a date for when the last German evacuation flight would leave but said there are around 500 troops currently helping with the effort, some of whom are still in the country.
Even after the effort ends, she said, Germany will work to see if it could continue to help people by ‘among other things through civilian use of Kabul airport.’
Biden also admitted to the danger facing troops on Tuesday as he announced his decision on the deadline, saying: ‘The sooner we can finish, the better… each day of operations brings added risk to our troops.’
The Pentagon said on Wednesday that US forces have ‘been very clear’ with the Taliban ‘about what credentials we are willing to accept’ for people trying to get to the airport.
‘By and large, with caveats’ people have been getting through checkpoints, spokesman John Kirby said, adding ‘we also have other means to get people in.’
‘When we have reports that someone credentialed is not being let in, we are making that clear to Taliban leaders they need to let them in,’ Kirby said.