Australian soldiers play footy and cricket with Afghan children they've rescued from the Taliban

Children rescued from war-torn Afghanistan have enjoyed a taste of freedom, playing cricket and kicking a football around with Australian soldiers in the wake of their escape.

Australia and New Zealand have evacuated 4,000 people as part of rescue operations in the capital of Kabul, including 1,200 that were flown out on Wednesday night.

Heartwarming footage taken last weekend shows evacuees making the most of their newfound freedoms while playing games with members from the Australian Defence Force.

Afghanis were seen bowling to an Aussie soldier during a game of cricket while other children tested out their rugby skills with ADF personnel.

Heartwarming footage have captured Afghanistan evacuees playing cricket with Australian soldiers

One youngster is seen tossing around a football with a member from the Australian Defence Force

One little boy took on a soldier in a bean bag tossing game as other youngsters ran around with soccer balls.

It’s not known where in Australia the footage was taken.

The scenes are worlds away from the horror that is unfolding in Kabul in the wake of the Taliban’s return.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne on Thursday urged Australians in the country not to go to Kabul’s international airport amid fears of a potential terror attack.

‘There’s an ongoing and very high threat of a terrorist attack. Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport,’ the advice on Smartraveller read.

Australia and New Zealand have evacuated around 4,000 people as part of rescue operations including 1,200 that were flown out from Kabul on Wednesday night

Evacuees are seen taking advantage of their newfound freedoms after being rescued by Australian troops

‘If you’re in the area of the airport, move to a safe location and await further advice.’

Similar advice has been given by the UK and the US.

The earlier advice for Australians and Afghans with visas was to travel to the airport and wait for an evacuation flight.

Ms Payne said some Afghan residents desperate to leave were forced to turn back to escape the violence unfolding near the airport.

‘I have seen, heard reports of the attacks on women, attacks on children, threats at checkpoints, invasions of transports, where children and families have been threatened in those transports, as they have been trying to get to the airport,’ she said.

‘The complexity of this is significant. But we are trying to contact as many, have tried to and continue to do so.’

There are now more than 600 Afghan evacuees in Australia quarantining in hotels across the country.

The Australian government on Thursday urged Australians in the country not to go Kabul’s international airport amid fears of a potential terror attack

The amount of people evacuated by Australian and New Zealand troops is ‘three times’ more than expected, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

Evacuation operations are expected to end on Tuesday which is the United States’ deadline to leave the country entirely.

‘We remain focused on the safe evacuation from Afghanistan for as many Australians and visa holders as possible, for as long as possible,’ Ms Payne said.

‘Access to Hamid Karzai International Airport is extremely limited, it is extremely challenging in terms of checkpoints and difficulties in those processes, particularly through restrictions imposed by the Taliban of the movement of Afghan nationals and this has been a difficult period for Australian officials.’

There are now more than 600 Afghan evacuees in Australia quarantining in hotels across the country (pictured Australian citizens and visa holders evacuated from Afghanistan arrive in Australia)

Who are the Taliban and what do they want?

The Taliban – ‘students’ in the Pashto language – are extremist Islamist militants who want to impose their fundamentalist interpretation of religious law on Afghanistan.

The group has its origins in the US-backed mujahedin, radical Islamic guerilla fighters, who fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1970s and 1980s.

It is believed that the predominantly Pashtun movement first appeared in religious seminaries – mostly paid for by money from Saudi Arabia – which preached a hardline form of Sunni Islam.

The promise made by the Taliban – in Pashtun areas straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan – was to restore peace and security and enforce their own austere version of Sharia, or Islamic law, once in power.

In September 1995 they captured the province of Herat, bordering Iran, and exactly one year later they captured the Afghan capital, Kabul, overthrowing the regime of President Burhanuddin Rabbani – one of the founding fathers of the Afghan mujahideen that resisted the Soviet occupation.

By 1998, the Taliban were in control of almost 90 percent of Afghanistan.

Afghans weary of infighting and corruption among the mujahideen largely welcomed the Taliban in the early days of their power, but they also introduced controversial punishments in line with their extremist interpretation of Sharia law that included public executions of convicted murderers and adulterers, and amputations for those found guilty of theft.

Men were required to grow long beards and women were forced to wear the all-covering burqa, a tent-like veil with a fabric grate over the eyes.

The Taliban also banned television, music and cinema, and disapproved of girls aged eight and over going to school. They were accused of various human rights and cultural abuses, predominantly for their gender policies that discriminate against women.

From the age of eight, girls were not allowed to be in direct contact with males other than a close ‘blood relative’, husband, or in-law.

Women were also forbidden from leaving the house without a blood relative or without wearing a burqa, wearing high-heeled shoes in case a man was aroused by their footsteps, speaking loudly in public or allowing a stranger to hear their voice, standing on their balconies, being photographed or filmed and speaking on radio, television or at public gatherings of any kind.

The Taliban were removed from power in Afghanistan by US-led forces in 2001, but have been operating in the background ever since.

One of the most high-profile and internationally condemned of all Pakistani Taliban attacks took place in October 2012, when schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head on a on her way home from a school exam in the town of Mingora in neighbouring Pakistan.

The group has been on the offensive in recent months and consolidated its power earlier this month by taking the capital city Kabul and declaring the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from ousted President Ashraf Ghani’s desk in the ancient presidential palace.

Earlier chilling reports trickling out of Kabul claimed Taliban gangs are stalking the streets hunting girls as young as 12 for sex slaves.

Militants were reportedly going door-to-door trying to track down locals accused of helping Western forces during the Afghanistan War and subsequent 20-year intervention from the US, Britain and Australia.

The fate of women’s rights in Afghanistan now hangs in the balance as the notoriously misogynist extremists regain control for the first time in almost 20 years – despite the billions of dollars spent by the US and NATO to build Afghan government security forces and functioning infrastructure.

Female Afghans are feared to be among those most at-risk under the new government.

When the Islamists came to power in 1996 after the country’s bloody Civil War, they imposed strict religious law that brutalised and oppressed women and girls.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk

Australian soldiers play footy and cricket with Afghan children they’ve rescued from the Taliban

Who are the Taliban and what do they want?