For the past two weeks, Zahra has been sending multiple emails a day to Department of Home Affairs officials asking for her husband's visa to be processed.
The Australian citizen in Kabul - who only wants to be known by her first name for safety reasons - has been too scared to leave the house in the days since the Taliban took over the city, consolidating its control on the country.
"The situation in Afghanistan is getting worse every minute. It is not just day-to-day," she told SBS News.
"I have no solution (of how to get to safety)."
The first evacuation flight arranged by the Australian government .
Zahra was not on board the flight, because she was too concerned for the safety of her husband and in-laws.
"If I go, I would feel guilty. My husband and my in-laws are in danger - I can't leave them behind."
'Be prepared'
Zahra said her husband has been waiting for 23 months for his visa to be processed.
Despite numerous emails - with up to six emails a day in the last fortnight - the response from the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been to wait.
"They said: 'You have to wait for us to call you shortly. Just be prepared.'"
The number of people who have been able to board the Australian evacuation flights has been constrained by the volatile security situation, which has made it difficult for Afghans to be at the airport in Kabul.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton said the Australian planes do not have the capacity to be carrying 600-plus people as was the case for a US military transport and cargo plane.
"It is not a C-17 (the US plane) where you have the ability for several hundred people," he told the ABC on Wednesday. "We had limitations on how people can get to the airport and it's a very difficult situation on the ground. It's not like turning up to a normal airport where people can come and go freely."
'I am still shocked'
The speed of Kabul's collapse stunned observers and also took Zahra by surprise.
"I couldn't even imagine the Taliban come here and take everything, like in 10 days," she said.
"I am really shocked. I am still shocked. The Taliban are crossing our streets during the day and night."
Despite assurances from the Taliban that women will be allowed to participate in public life, Zahra said she is concerned that might not be the case in reality.
In the five years of Taliban rule until 2011, women who were in public without a full-body covering and accompanied by a male guardian risked punishment, including a public flogging or execution.
An Australian RAAF C-130 Hercules plane has successfully evacuated 26 people from Kabul airport. Source: Australian Defence Force
"I haven't gone outside in the past few days. I can't even go to the backyard."
She said many Afghan locals fear what life will be like under the Taliban.
"I am really scared. It is not just my safety. It is my family and my in-law's family as well."
3,000 humanitarian places allocated for Afghan refugees
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said will be offered to Afghan refugees, adding that the government has already brought 430 Afghans to Australia.
SBS News has been told the Department of Home Affairs has less than 50 visas that remain to be processed under the program for former locally engaged employees (LEEs) to get out of Afghanistan.
However, SBS News understands there are of Australia’s closed Kabul embassy still waiting to apply for the visas.
Mr Dutton said any visa applications would undergo a rigorous process of security checks to ensure there is no terrorist threat.
"They're coming from a very difficult part of the world. There are people that have helped us at a point in time who have since acted out either against our interests or those of our allies, which includes passing on intelligence to ISIL and others," he said.
"In some cases, it's impossible to ascertain information or interviews have been conducted and the interviewers aren't satisfied with the authenticity of the responses that have been made."
More evacuation flights out of Kabul are planned in the coming days, although weather and security around the airport may limit the number of those who board the plane.
Mr Dutton would not confirm how many Afghans could potentially be evacuated on flights arranged out of Kabul in the coming days.
"That operation is underway at the moment. We have the capacity to uplift a significant number of people ... We're anxiously waiting to see what prevails there in terms of the weather and that practical reality we have to deal with."
