Ali Haidary brought his five children to Australia from Afghanistan in 2011, with the hope his three girls would be able to receive a better education than they had at home.
In their tender years, one of his daughters had dressed as a boy to attend school, and — when the Taliban took over Ali's village, he was witness to his own father's murder.
I thought of Ali and his family when the news broke of the Taliban's hasty march to Kabul over the weekend.
Then I thought of the many Afghans I have been fortunate enough to interview who have strengthened and brought a richness to Shepparton's community — some arriving as children, others bringing their family here in hope of a life of peace.
When Prime Minister Scott Morrison followed US President Joe Biden in announcing the full withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in April, Shepparton student and former refugee Liaqat Ahmadi immediately feared the ramifications.
“The situation for all ethnicity groups will be hard, particularly for young people,” he told me at the time.
“As a nation, I'm not sure how the president of Afghanistan will deal with such a tough situation. Especially with the economy not doing well, and the Taliban on the rise.”
Liaqat's fears proved to be well-founded.
The fact 20 years of occupation and progress has been undone in a matter of months raises many questions.
Why were we there in the first place?
What were we trying to achieve?
And — now the Taliban has retaken control — what is Australia going to do about it?
Canada and the United Kingdom have recently voiced their intention to welcome 20,000 Afghan refugees due to the situation unfolding in Kabul.
As for our response?
As frightening images of Afghans falling from US charter flights emerged, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke assured Afghan visa holders living in Australia that they wouldn't be returned to Afghanistan while "the security situation there remains dire".
All right, Alex — and then what?
Many visa holders living among us have been waiting five, sometimes six years for their citizenship.
The current situation will only be compounding their trauma.
Liaqat rightly told me it was often almost impossible for some Afghans to pass Australia's citizenship test, as many hadn't received an education and lacked reading or writing skills in their own language, let alone English.
Speaking with Liaqat on Monday, he was unimpressed by Mr Morrison's announcement Afghans who had served alongside the Australian military would be rescued in the coming days.
Even that small assurance has since been reclassified.
On Tuesday, Mr Morrison acknowledged despite "best efforts", support wouldn't extend to all that it should.
“On-the-ground events have overtaken many efforts. We wish it were different,” he said.
In the 1970s, former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser opened the doors to what would end up to be over 100,000 Vietnamese refugees following the fall of Saigon.
A decade later in 1989, former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke broke down in tears after the massacre of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
He immediately offered asylum to some 42,000 Chinese nationals in Australia — surprising even his own cabinet.
Across both sides of politics — the common string was humanity and decency.
Mr Morrison would do well to follow their lead.
