A desperate rescue mission is urgently being planned by Australian special forces as an army of Taliban fighters descend on the city of Kabul.
The Afghan capital is all but lost as of late Sunday night after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country and Islamist insurgents sacked every provincial city on the way to Kabul, just over a week since the US military pulled its troops from the country.
Taliban militants have surrounded the city on all sides and panic has set in among its five million terrified residents, with long queues seen at ATMs and roads flooded with vehicles desperately trying to escape.
Also trapped in the embattled capital are a long list of Australian diplomats, journalists, aid workers and private security contractors, as well as hundreds of Afghans refugees who have worked for the Australian Defence Force over the past two decades and now face the possibility of being imprisoned.
With time quickly running out, a daring aerial operation is set to be undertaken by SAS troops, infantry soldiers and the Royal Australian Air Force to bring them all Down Under.
Government sources have said plans are also being put in place to give Afghan nationals extra spots on Australia's humanitarian visa program, according to SBS.
A desperate rescue mission is urgently being planned by Australian special forces as an army of Taliban fighters arrive in Kabul (pictured, Australian soldiers stand near local Afghans at a ceremony to open a Trade Training School)
The Taliban is now closing in on the capital of Kabul from all sides, now controlling territories in the north, south, east and west
Taliban fighters sit on a vehicle along the street in Jalalabad province after seizing the city as the terror group makes huge gains (pictured on Sunday)
Afghan policemen stand guard at a checkpoint along the road in Kabul on Saturday
Scott Morrison said it's 'a heartbreaking time' and a 'difficult day' given the 'terrible oppression that women and girls face in Afghanistan' at the hands of the Taliban.
But the Prime Minister remained tight-lipped about the rescue mission which was given the go-ahead by the national security committee on Saturday.
'I don't think it is advisable for me to go into operational arrangements that are being put in place for the security of those we are seeking to help,' Mr Morrison told reporters.
'What I can assure you is this task has the utmost urgency and priority of the government and, of course, has been considered at the highest levels of the government yesterday.
'And we're in very constant engagement with our allies and partners as part of that broader effort.'
Smoke rises next to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday as expats fled the city
A Taliban fighter stands guard over surrendered Afghan security member forces in the city of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Friday
Foreigners in Kabul have been told they should either leave or register their presence with Taliban administrators, while RAF planes were scrambled to evacuate 6,000 Britons
The militants were seen in the districts of Kalakan, Qarabagh and Paghman hours after taking control of Jalalabad, the most recent major Afghan city to fall to the insurgents
Taliban fighters stand armed with guns in Laghman province after making major gains across Afghanistan in the wake of the US departure
Leading the contingency planning, strategic communications and the close personal protection of evacuees will be SAS soldiers based in the nearby United Arab Emirates, The Australian reported.
Backing them up will be two infantry platoons made up of 60 soldiers from the Townsville-based 1st and 3rd Royal Australian Regiments, along with battalion and company headquarters teams.
They are expected to have a 'non-combatant' role in the evacuation and will be flown in on RAAF C17 and C-130 transporters early this week.
The Department of Home Affairs revealed 650 humanitarian visas have already been granted to former local employees since April, with just 30 applications yet to be processed.
However some estimates say there are still over 200 Afghan interpreters who worked with the ADF, that are yet to secure a visa for themselves and their families.
About 200 more contracted security guards, and about a dozen former aid workers, are also hoping to seek asylum in Australia.
But because there were no direct employees of the Australian government, most have been barred from applying.
Afghan passengers walk toward the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan in Sunday as the city remains under siege
A Taliban fighter rides a motorbike through a street in Laghman province. A US defense official has warned it could be only a matter of days before the insurgent fighters take control of Kabul
Afghans wait in long lines for hours to try to withdraw money in front of Kabul Bank after the Taliban sought to gain control of the capital
Afghanistan war analyst William Maley said Australia's rescue is coming 'far, far, far too late'.
'It is something that should have been put in place weeks and weeks ago, when people were warning that the window to mount an effective extraction could close very suddenly,' Professor Maley said.
Although the Taliban fighters have promised a 'peaceful transfer of power' if the Afghan government stands down, over the past week on the march to Kabul it was widely reported that Jihadis were going 'door-to-door' forcibly marrying girls as young as 12 and forcing them into sex slavery.
Commanders ordered imams in captured areas to bring them lists of unmarried women aged from 12 to 45 considering them to be 'spoils of war'.
The US have already evacuated diplomats from their embassy by helicopter, however about 10,000 more citizens remain stranded.
Britain have scrambled RAF planes to evacuate about 6,000 British diplomats, citizens and Afghan translators with key Embassy personnel moved to secret locations awaiting their departure.
The Taliban have now taken over Jalalabad, spelling the fall of the last major Afghan city other than Kabul to the extremist fighters as the US withdraws its troops from the country. Pictured Taliban forces patrol Herat on Saturday
Children sleep on the ground in a makeshift camp at Shahr-e-Naw Park in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday after fleeing their homes in parts of Afghanistan now occupied by the Taliban
Taliban fighters drive the vehicle through the streets of Laghman province Sunday - the same day Jalalabad fell
US defence and intelligence analysts estimated it would take about three months before the Taliban could try to mount and assault on the capital.
But the army have all but captured the city and Afghanistan's provincial capitals in just over a week.
Joe Biden has vowed that any action that puts Americans at risk 'will be met with a swift and strong US military response.'
But the US President is now copping a flurry of criticism from Republican lawmakers, and even his own party, over the monumental foreign policy blunder.
A US Chinook helicopter flies over the city of Kabul as diplomatic vehicles leave the compound after the Taliban advanced on the Afghan capital
Likewise, Scott Morrison was asked by reporters what he would say to the families of Australian soldiers who died in the 20-year military campaign in Afghanistan.
'To the families of those 41 Australians, I say what I've always said. Thank you. Thank you for the sacrifice of your sons,' the Prime Minister.
'They have fallen under our flag, under our name, wearing our uniform, serving. And we are forever in their debt.
'They don't get to decide where they go or what mission they're asked to perform and yet they sign up and they go anyway.
'We can only offer our humble thanks of a grateful nation to them, and that I don't believe any Australian who falls in that service dies in vain, because what we always seek to fight for, which is freedom, is always important in whatever cause, regardless of the outcome.'
