The Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry (ECAJ), the peak rep­res­ent­at­ive body of the Aus­trali­an Jewish community, deplores the forcible take-over of Afgh­anistan by the Taliban.

“We join with our friends in the Afghan community in Australia in express­ing profound concern about the future safety and welfare of members of their families and friends from whom they are already receiving reports of Taliban atro­cit­ies, including exe­cu­tions, mass rapes and forced marriages of young women and girls,” said ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim.

“The return of Afgh­anistan to the barbarism of Taliban rule which benighted the country in the 1990s is espe­cially ominous for Afghanis who have worked with Aus­trali­an and other western gov­ern­ments and organ­isa­tions as trans­lat­ors, security and support staff, NGO workers and journ­al­ists. Members of religious minor­it­ies are also at grave risk, including the many Shia members of the Hazara community.”

“We urge the Aus­trali­an gov­ern­ment to give priority to the evac­u­ation of all people whose lives are at grave risk, including all of these groups and others who are likely targets of the Taliban.”

Noting that many people are now at risk from hunger and lack of shelter due to their forced dis­place­ment, Wertheim said that the ECAJ is also calling for Aus­trali­an aid to the region to be extended to support programs to assist people who have been displaced across borders and, wherever possible, to support organ­isa­tions still offering assist­ance within Afgh­anistan.

The ECAJ also called for Afghans who are already living in Australia on a temporary basis to be allowed to stay if they wish to do so. “None of them should be forced to return to Afgh­anistan against their will or face the constant fear of forced return,” Wertheim said.

“The calamity that has befallen the Afghan nation will not be confined to the borders of Afgh­anistan. Violent Islamist extrem­ists the world over, including those who have now been released from prison in Afgh­anistan, will exult in the Taliban victory, be fortified in their sense of certainty in the ultimate victory of their evil cause and will find renewed motiv­a­tion to commit acts of murder and mayhem. A world that is grappling to cope with a pandemic now faces another deadly source of instabil­ity.”