Fearing for his family's lives and promised a temporary Australian visa, Hassan fled Afghanistan. The government now says the former ADF interpreter was issued the visa by mistake.
A former interpreter for the Australian Defence Force in Afghanistan who fears for his life and has been waiting eight years for approval to come to Australia has been told a temporary humanitarian visa was issued to him "in error", leaving him and his young family in limbo.
After the blast, Hassan abandoned his plan to catch a flight. He and his family then drove across the border into Pakistan. "The Taliban have no forgiveness for what these interpreters did, facilitating combat missions against the Taliban and against Al Qaeda," Mr Scanes told Four Corners. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Damien Hick had written to the department disputing this connection, saying that as a Pashtun, it was "very likely" due to "family and tribal relations" that there would be "connections in some form to the Taliban ".
Hassan, pictured here with Jason Scanes, had glowing references from Australian and UK army officers."How will I [have] a relationship with the Taliban? This doesn't make sense." Mr Scanes had repeatedly written requesting meetings with ministers Dutton and Andrews to explain what he and some of his colleagues saw as flaws in the US intelligence assessment methodology, but they didn't answer his correspondence.
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