Almost 22 years ago, my mother received a letter that would change our lives forever. It confirmed that my father was alive. He was in the Curtin detention centre in Western Australia, along with hundreds of other Hazaras who had travelled to Australia on leaky fishing boats.
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Attempting to cross the dark, dangerous Indian Ocean - knowing death was a realistic possibility - was a better option than continuing to live hopelessly under brutal Taliban rule.
When Kabul fell so dramatically to the Taliban this month, the hearts of thousands of Afghan Australians around the country collectively sank. We knew what atrocities lay ahead for our families, friends, and communities in Afghanistan.
When I saw men clinging to an aeroplane as it took off, then plunging to their death, it took me back to the last time the Taliban were in power. My heart was racing as I remembered the desperation and fear my family felt at that time.
If it wasn't for my father's bravery and willingness to do whatever he could to protect his family, we would be among those living under Taliban rule today.
My two sisters and I would not have had the opportunity to pursue our education in science, law and global studies. I would have never become a lawyer.
Today when the Taliban tells the world that they will forgive anyone who has fought against them, we Hazaras wait in horror for when the world stops watching and the killing begins. In some areas it has already started.
The Taliban's practice of stoning people to death, destroying the places of worship of minorities and stopping girls from going to school is only around the corner.
Every Afghan I know in Australia has been scrambling to try to move their families to safety, away from the horrors that will unfold in the coming days, weeks and months.
But with just 3000 places committed for Afghans so far by the federal government, I don't know how many of us will be able to save our families in Afghanistan.
Already the Taliban have started going door to door, at night, marking those they want to come back to later - especially the doors of the Hazaras who have fought against them.
They have reportedly taken women as sex slaves and destroyed the statue of Abdul Ali Mazari, a prominent Hazara leader the Taliban killed in the 1990s.
The need to rescue Afghanistan from the Taliban - one of the initial justifications used by the US, Australia and other allies before invading Afghanistan - has never been greater. To abandon ordinary Afghans and leave them to fight against a Taliban army that would fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground is to guarantee grave human atrocities.
You don't have to dig too far to find out that most of the Taliban's victims are ethnic Hazaras, who are also the largest ethnic community from Afghanistan seeking refuge in Australia once again.
Seared in our collective memories are the events starting on August 8, 1998. The Taliban took to the streets of Mazar Sharif and slaughtered more than 2000 mostly Hazara men. Then they waited and killed anyone who attempted to remove the bodies of their loved ones.
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It would be foolish to think they have changed. For over 20 years the Taliban have operated in the shadows of the Afghan government.
In recent times they have carried out terror operations attacking women and girls, advocates and journalists, as well as the maternity ward of a hospital in which they killed multiple newborn babies.
In the weeks before the fall of Kabul, the Taliban made their vow to wipe Afghanistan clean of Hazaras widely known.
Since taking power they have once again promised to respect women and to forgive anyone who has fought against them, but this is a strategy they have used in the past. We cannot believe them for a second.
We must do more to help the people of Afghanistan. The Australian government has an important role to play, and it must go well beyond the 3000 humanitarian places.
At a minimum, I urge Prime Minister Morrison to create a women-at-risk visa stream to allow Afghan women to resettle in Australia; to give immediate permanent residency to the thousands of Afghan men on bridging visas in Australia and allow their families to resettle in Australia on fast-track processes; to substantially increase Australia's humanitarian intake similar to what we did for Syrians; and to prioritise the resettlement of Afghan refugees waiting in Indonesia.
Like the kindness that was afforded to my father, and in turn myself and my family, it is time for Australia to show compassion. Because the alternative for so many Afghans - especially Hazaras - is unthinkable. It is only a matter of time before the Taliban do what they do best.
- Sahema Saberi is a lawyer, a volunteer casework assistant at Refugee Legal, and a former refugee.
