Australia granting visas to Afghans working with its troops

MELBOURNE: Afghans have begun arriving in Australia after being granted a safe haven for their work alongside Australian troops in Afghanistan amid intensifying violence across the war-torn country, foreign media reported on Saturday.

Guardian Australia has confirmed that about 80 Afghan interpreters and their families have landed in Australia on commercial flights since Thursday. The news was first reported by SBS. In April, Guardian Australia reported that 41 interpreters had written to the government twice earlier this year pleading for urgent help.

The home affairs department said that since 15 April about 180 people in Afghanistan had been granted a visa under the Afghan locally engaged employees (LEE) programme, including family members.

Afghanistan veteran and federal MP Phillip Thompson said interpreters were at “the top of the list” as the government expanded its efforts to process visa applications and provide a safe haven in Australia ahead of Nato force withdrawal in September.

“Interpreters are the only people on the refugee and humanitarian visa waitlist that have been allowed to enter the country during the global pandemic,” he said. “But there are processes in place and avenues that people have to go through and we have to make sure these people were actually working for [Australia]. It’s really critical that this process is robust.”