In Kabul’s ‘Saigon moment’, Australia faces the shame of repeating its mistakes exiting the Vietnam war

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 05:27:13 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/in-kabuls-saigon-moment-australia-faces-the-shame-of-repeating-its-mistakes-exiting-the-vietnam-war-166163>

"I think there is considerable moral responsibility for the Australian
government to continue to try to get out as many Afghans who helped us, even
though their government seems to have collapsed.

In Saigon in 1975, Australia basically turned its back on locally employed
staff and refused to repatriate them. Many people feel a bit ashamed about
Australia’s attitude back then.

That may have informed the attitude of our government in recent weeks. Bowing
to pressure, it has agreed to work toward extricating hundreds of Afghan people
who have worked for us.

What is concerning is we haven’t gone hard or quick enough. There is a
considerable number of people who remain very vulnerable, who would be worried
about being earmarked as collaborators if they stayed."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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