Australia Can't Evacuate All Afghans

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison/Instagram scottmorrisonmp

JAKARTA - Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia could not evacuate all Afghans working with its military.

Prime Minister Morrison prepared an evacuation plan after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

The Australian government said it would send 250 military personnel to Kabul to evacuate its citizens and a number of Afghans who had been granted visas after working with Australia.

US troops controlling Kabul airport resumed evacuation flights on Tuesday, a day after chaos there as desperate Afghans tried to flee.

"We will continue to do everything we can for those who have supported us, as we have done to this day," Morrison told reporters in Canberra,

"But I want to speak openly with veterans that despite our best efforts, I know that support is not going to get where it should be."

Australia is part of a NATO-led international force battling the Taliban and training Afghan security forces years after the insurgents were ousted in 2001.

More than 39,000 Australian military personnel served in Afghanistan and 41 of them died in that country.

Morrison's admission will spark criticism of his government after former Australian military personnel said withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan would put Afghans working with Australia in danger.

Morrison said Australia had fast-track visas for 430 people from Afghanistan.

The government said Tuesday that no Afghan national in Australia would be deported back home.