MORE than anyone Gerroa-based lawyer Glenn Kolomeitz is well aware of what is going on in Afghanistan.
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Kolemeitz undertook two tours of Afghanistan in 2009 - 2010, where as an Army legal officer, he was part of the processing of detainees suspected of being Taliban insurgents.
He worked alongside Afghan interpreters, many of whom were threatened with death for working with the Australians.
Many of those same people are now trying to escape Afghanistan and the reach of the Talban.
Since leaving the the ADF in 2013, he's embraced another mission - the welfare of veterans broken by their experiences in combat but more recently his focus has been on the interpreters, bringing their plight to the national attention.
He says there are 600 people including families that need to get out of Afghanistan and is working hard to get them out.
"We have a moral obligation to provide protection for those who served Australia's interests during its longest war," he said. "Seeing and hearing what's going on is hectic and heartbreaking all at the same time.
"It's very disappointing to see what's happening - we're trying to stay focussed on getting our people and Afghans out of Kabul and somewhere safe to be processed for Australian humanitarian visas.
"There will be time later for emotions about the effect of losing Afghanistan - now it's about saving lives.
"We are imploring the government to get in there and get the 196 embassy guards, 30 interpreters, two journalists and their families on flights and the hell out of Kabul.
"We [Australia] owes them that much.
"We have been asking the government for this for many, many months, now it's very late in the day but we've got to make this happen. And we're there to help with their processing."
The we, is his Canberra-based law firm GAP Veteran and Legal Services.
Along with its two humanitarian advisors, Mr Kolemeitz said the firm is being contacted and called day and night.
"Our teams are working round the clock," he said.
"We are getting calls from clients in Afghanistan and also from their families over here, contacting us for help and information. Many are frantic, naturally.
"Our teams are working shifts to take all the calls, but the difficulty is knowing what is going on over there and what we can do when the government won't talk us
"We are trying to stay positive and reassure them we are doing whatever we can to get them to Australia."
Mr Kolemeitz knows the Taliban has started targeting journalists, "that's their usual modus operandi" he said - the aim "to shut down communication"
"We had four journalists who are clients over there, two of them women and we haven't heard from them in many weeks, which is not a good sign," he said.
"We have no idea if they are alive or dead - it's horrendous."
He says Defence Minister Peter Dutton on Tuesday morning agreed to look at names his firm has provided.
"We are grateful to Minister Dutton - it's the first time the government has even spoken to us about our clients," he said.
"The whole process has been a massive failure ... ours has been very effective. We've managed to collate 10 years of data in two weeks including all the key evidence and incidents to support their applications.
"In 12 months DFAT has managed to process only 12 of our guards and they are not even to the visa stage.
"We have been trying for months to provide the government with options, including offshore or other countries as processing options.
"We have even offered the government we would go to the UAE or wherever to do the processing of these people and we have all the evidence.
"All these options were in our briefing paper. Now we just have to wait and see what the minster says."
He admitted getting "teary" when he looked at his eight-year-old daughter Lara last night and the images he was seeing on television.
"I see the images of the young Afghan girls who have lived all their lives to date in freedom and a relatively happy life, now they are threatened to be back into the Dark Ages with the Taliban and Sharia Law.
"I looked at my daughter and thought 'there by the grace of God goes Lara' ."