The final days of Australia’s longest war are being brought to life at the Australian War Memorial (AWM) through the eyewitness accounts of the fall of Kabul, five years after the return of the Taliban and the evacuation of thousands from Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Musician, diplomat and author Fred Smith OAM, who helped with the evacuation to Australia will also perform two concerts on 15 August at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra to mark the day the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan.
His donation of eyewitness footage, and contemporary records are now part of the National Collection and form part of an immersive AWM installation which tells the story of the collapse of Afghanistan through the multitude of voices of those who lived it.
The ‘singing diplomat’ was “within the wire” at Kabul International Airport five years ago, he says his phone was “blowing up” with WhatsApp conversations and his eyes still well up when he recalls the children he couldn’t help.
Smith’s broken phone and guitar are part of the new gallery space and he has since authored a book on the experience along with songs and poems to help make sense of his experiences.
Former Afghanistan Ambassador for Australia, and now Director of the Australian War Memorial, Matt Anderson PSM, was in the same WhatsApp groups as Smith where Afghan nationals who had worked for the Australian Embassy were pleading for help to flee Afghanistan.
“You only have to spend time in the Afghanistan gallery to realise it’s complicated,” Mr Anderson said. “Every person who served experienced a different Afghanistan, and that is what the new galleries are trying to reflect.”
The eyewitness display in the new Afghanistan gallery is complex, chaotic and emotional. The images of dozens of men clinging to the wheels of departing aircraft, are juxtaposed with real-time messages of those on the ground trying to get out and the people trying to help them.
The installation shows throngs of people navigating suicide bombers, a moat of sewage canals, Covid-19, the violent end of a 20-year war, the searing heat and uncertainty over whether they would survive the returning regime.
“What visitors see in the new Afghanistan gallery is our first draft of this history,” Mr Anderson said. “We have no official history, yet. This is the first draft.”
Smith has also spent much of his life working in Afghanistan as a diplomat. During the fall of Kabul, he used WhatsApp and Signal to help desperate former Australian Government employees to escape.
“I was getting messages from people I had worked with, who had become my friends, all asking ‘what do we do?'” he said.
“When your visa is on your phone and your battery dies, that can mean the difference between getting out or being left behind. Every day we told people; take an extra phone charger, keep your passport close, don’t push, don’t argue, just keep moving.”
AWM Curator Victoria Poppins said each element of the display could stand on their own.
“When we brought all of the elements together from the lived experience of Afghan civilians, photojournalists, Australian veterans and organisations within Australia, they create an impression of the chaos and the speed at which people had to make decisions with incomplete information,” she said.
“There is so much happening in this multimedia hopefully visitors watch it multiple times and as they do will discover new stories.”
AWM’s Director says the story doesn’t end when visitors leave the gallery.
“Our soldiers, aviators, diplomats and Home Affairs staff worked heroically to bring back Australians, locally engaged staff and those who stood by our side during our longest war.
“Australia even stood up an Aspen Medical Clinic to treat more than 2800 evacuees travelling to Australia and other coalition nations.
“We went for the right reasons. We stayed for the right reasons. But once our allies made the decision to leave, we couldn’t stay. That’s the tragedy.
“I am still in contact with people who are desperate to get out. That’s what people need to understand. For many Afghans, this story didn’t end when Kabul fell.”
Smith says: “Despite the many challenges during the evacuation mission, the Australian team managed to get 4,100 people out, most of whom are now living in Australia.
“Their girls and boys are going to school and having swimming lessons. We’ve changed people’s lives. This is a story worth telling.”
Fred Smith will perform two concerts at the Australian War Memorial on Saturday 15 August. Tickets are available at Unforgotten: Songs of Australians at War | Australian War Memorial.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Australian service in Afghanistan 2001-2021. To commemorate this, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs will be holding a national commemorative service in Canberra on 11 October 2026 (11 October 2001 marks the official start date of Operation Slipper) at the Australian War Memorial.
