'Not good enough': The Australian soldier fighting for his colleagues

The withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country has left many locals who worked with Australians in a perilous position.

Warren in Afghanistan

Key Points

• Those closest to the conflict reflect on the costs and rewards of Australia’s 20-year involvement in the war.
• Before Warren Stevens was deployed to Afghanistan in 2008, he knew nothing about the country.

One year after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, those closest to the conflict reflect on the costs and rewards of Australia’s 20-year involvement in the war. Watch ‘Afghanistan’ here.

Before Warren Stevens was deployed to Afghanistan in 2008, he knew nothing about the country.

“I’d never met an Afghani in my life,” Warren told SBS Insight.

“Never in 100 years did I imagine I’d be deployed to Afghanistan three times, then after my deployment, helping Afghans flee their country for a better life.”

Warren in Afghanistan with his colleagues

Warren served in the Australian Defence Force for 27 years, eleven of those were spent as an infantry soldier. Then, in 1999 he was deployed to Timor-Leste, where he was injured and transferred to the Engineering Corps.

Warren completed three tours of Afghanistan; in 2008, 2010 and 2012, where he ran a trade training school. The school aimed to equip Afghan youth with a trade or skills to help rebuild the country.

During those years, he formed many close ties with local Afghans, in particular those who worked alongside him as instructors and interpreters.

They've been actively hunted by the Taliban.

Warren Stevens

“I worked with these guys for three different tours and we got to know them pretty well,” Warren said.

“We formed a common bond over sharing a meal, having a joke and just talking about everyday life from the Afghani's point of view, to the Australian point of view.”

Warren eating a meal with an Afghan instructor.

When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August 2021, Warren knew his Afghan colleagues and friends would be in danger due to their association with coalition forces.

“They've been actively hunted by the Taliban. They've had to leave their home in Tarin Kowt and they're spread all over Afghanistan,” Warren told Insight.

“Especially with the food situation; they've got no money, they are slowly starving.”

Now retired from the defence force, he and his wife Jo-Anne spend much of their free time communicating with his former colleagues in hiding in Afghanistan, and lobbying Australian government departments on their behalf.

Warren in Afghanistan

“And at this stage, it's all turned on deaf ears,” the former soldier said.

Professor William Maley, Emeritus Professor of Diplomacy at ANU, and one of Australia’s leading observers of Afghanistan, said that the government’s efforts to evacuate those who aided Australian forces has come “far too late”.

“When you go into another, the country of other people and they, in good faith, rely on your commitment to stand by them, then it's a pretty heavy moral burden,” Professor Maley told Insight.

“It's not one that can be discharged simply by saying, "Oh well, we've done enough."

Warren and his colleagues at a training school in Afghanistan.

Fleeing the Taliban

Similar to Warren’s colleagues, Faiz* was a locally-engaged contractor to coalition forces. For 12 years he worked with foreign governments, including the Australian Embassy in Kabul.

Since Afghanistan fell to the Taliban last year, he and his family have been forced to flee their home and are living in hiding.

If they kill me, what will happen to my family?

“When Kabul fell to control of the Taliban, after five days, they have come to our house,” said Faiz

“They have asked from my neighbour, ‘where's Faiz?’’’

“If they kill me, what will happen to my family?”

While his brother, who worked alongside him for coalition forces, made it to Australia on an evacuation flight, Faiz and his family didn’t make it to the airport.

“I have sent my documents, my application to the Australian government. I have been calling the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Australia. I have called them and explained my situation to them via phone,” Faiz said.

Faiz has not received any response from the Australian government since he contacted them in August last year.

In a statement, a Department of Home Affairs spokesperson told SBS Insight 31,500 visas have been allocated for Afghan nationals over the next four years.

“[It was like seeing] a long lost brother wasn't it?”

One instructor and interpreter who did make it to Australia in 2014 was Warren’s Afghan-born colleague, Najeebullah.

Warren and Najeebullah hadn’t seen one another for almost 10 years after they worked together in Uruzgan Province. They were re-united for the first time in a decade on Insight.

“[It was like seeing] a long-lost brother wasn't it?” Warren told Insight.

Warren and Najeebullah

Now living in Melbourne with his family, Najeebullah’s thankful for his circumstances, but fears for his friends and colleagues left behind.

“It was a very bad situation for them as well,” Najeebullah said.

“Warren's trying his best to get out of Afghanistan those instructors that were left behind.”

One year on from the takeover by the Taliban, Warren wants Australians not to forget about Afghan nationals who sacrificed their safety for coalition forces during the 20-year war.

“They've given everything to us,” Warren said.

“And we've just sort of [said], ‘we're not helping you out. We've done our best we can.’”

“That's not good enough.”

Warren and his Afghan colleague.

*Not his real name

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