Juma Gul Gul, also known as Jumaghul, was granted an in-country special humanitarian visa on November 3, almost two years after first applying.
It was then revoked less than two weeks later without explanation, Home Affairs documents seen by AAP show.
The home affairs and immigration minister was contacted for comment.
The Australian government has been criticised for leaving interpreters and others who helped defence personnel behind after the Taliban took control of the country, leaving them at risk from persecution by the terrorist group.
A 2022 parliamentary report said the federal government needed to do more to protect people who had worked with Australia and were at risk of reprisal in Afghanistan.
Warren Stevens, who met Jumaghul on one of his three tours of Afghanistan, said his friend remained at risk from the Taliban, which has disappeared and killed other people who worked with Western forces.
"I spoke to him a couple of nights ago and he's just confused and upset," he told AAP.
"We've been helping and sending money to Jumaghul so he doesn't starve to death."
The army engineer had trained Jumaghul when he was an instructor at a trade training school in Tarin Kot during his first tour in 2008.
The multinational base at Tarin Kot housed Australian troops and support staff who served in Afghanistan.
Mr Stevens did two more tours in 2010 and 2012, and by his second tour, his former student had been accredited to work unescorted in the special forces part of the compound, he said.
The visa refusal sent a bad message that people who worked for the Australian government would be abandoned, Mr Stevens said.
"We paid them and told them to help us and when we finished, we said, 'you're on your own' and left them to the Taliban".
He pointed to the story of another Afghan who had worked with Australians as a tradie and been tracked down and killed by the Taliban.
Mr Stevens and his wife Jo had been helping with the visa applications for years, and expressed frustration at the red tape from Australian authorities.
"This is a third-world country, they're asking for stuff we can't get," Mr Stevens said.
He also criticised politicians for giving the pair the runaround when they were trying to get help.
"All the politicians that said they would help promised the world and delivered nothing."
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