An Afghan interpreter who worked for the New Zealand Defence Force has issued a desperate plea to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for help after he said he and other translators were promised seats on an evacuation flight which never eventuated.
Ardern said she understands that not everyone they wanted to get out was able to, but assured them they are working with partners on how New Zealand will continue to support those that "didn't get home".
Basir Ahmad, an interpreter who assisted New Zealand's military ranks for four years, told The AM Show he represented 37 Afghan families who had worked for the NZ Defence Force as translators, mechanics, engineers and carpenters and were given assurance from the Government that they would be among the first to leave Afghanistan alongside New Zealand citizens.
"We were told we would be evacuated but unfortunately that hasn't happened… due to security reasons," he said on Tuesday.
"We are 37 families who are scared and we were told that this evacuation would take three or four days but unfortunately we have been waiting for more than two weeks and some of us are staying in hotels for security reasons and we are running out of money and are scared. We are in a dark situation."
He said the families are currently hiding out in Kabul and are worried because they are "very high risk" and don't have a plan.
Ahmad issued a desperate plea to Jacinda Ardern.
"All I can say is please help us. When they first got our request they told us we would be prioritised and that they would evacuate us with other New Zealand citizens. Unfortunately, that did not happen… [I have heard] they have evacuated some people who have assisted New Zealand but we are the people who have assisted New Zealand and we don't know who those people are."
Speaking to The AM Show, Ardern said she understood "we didn't get everyone out that we wanted to get out".
"In fact, I would probably say that's the case for every country who are undertaking evacuations. With the bombs that were taking place, there were two more flights that we wanted to undertake before we intended to complete that mission and they were unable to be undertaken. There is no doubt we didn't get everyone."
She said the priority was to get out people who were visa holders, citizens and permanent residents who were in Afghanistan when the Taliban took control.
"Our next step is how do we assist those we weren't able to get out. We are working now on those options.
"It will be complex because we were reliant on security services provided by other countries, particularly the United States, who were on the ground. We took in 80 of our Defence Force but there were literally thousands of troops keeping this secure and you can see why that was so necessary.
"We will have to work with our partners on how we continue to support those we didn't get home. But it is not the case that it is over for us, it's that we are going to have to change what we do next."
The first group of New Zealand citizens, families and other visa holders to be evacuated from the war-torn nation arrived in New Zealand via a commercial flight on August 23.
