Australian Defence confirms the situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating by the hour

Defence Minister Peter Dutton confirmed on Tuesday the evacuation mission at Kabul's Harmid Karzai International Airport was continuing to deteriorate, but ADF personnel are still being able to evacuate people out of the besieged capital.

"I am speaking again with the chief of the defence force ... talking about our evacuation plans and ways in which we can move our equipment, our assets and most importantly our people out safely in a timely way, but we are in obviously the back end of this campaign now, and the situation does continue to deteriorate over the coming hours and in the next couple of days," Mr Dutton said during question time.

Foreign Affairs minister Marise Payne on Monday said ADF and other agencies remain on standby for an extension of the withdrawal at Kabul airport led by the US.

The worsening crisis also comes as Japan's ambassador to Australia, Yamagami Shingo told a Senate committee the fall for Afghanistan is not a time for democracy to give up.

The appearance of the nation's second largest trading and comember of the Quad strategic alliance also sparked concerns over the power instability from the US withdrawal, which could see a greater influence from the Chinese Government within Afghanistan.

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Mr Shingo said he is hopeful two decades of coalition support in Afghanistan and the exposure to western democratic values could be the antithesis of providing future peace in the Central Asian region.

"This is no time for ... finger pointing. This is no time for giving up," he said.

"Throughout these 20 years ... some of them [Afghanis] were immersed into ... outside thinking and values and our way of life, including democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law."

Mr Shingo said it was important to help Afghanistan head into a "sound, peaceful, and inclusive direction".

In the past 24 hours the Australian military has conducted five flights out of Harmid Karzai International Airport, evacuating 650 people.

This brings the total number of evacuated Australian, UK and New Zealand citizens, permanent residents and visa holders to 1700 by the ADF, since the Taliban took control a week ago.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the service of veterans during the Afghanistan conflict was not in vain.

"I believe that all those who have served ... in whatever conflict they have been engaged in, that they have fallen in the name of Australia, in the name of freedom and the name of our values and seeking to pursue the national interests of Australia and to keep Australians safe," Mr Morrison said.

Mr Dutton during question time also noted the withdrawal should not be used as "political point scoring".

The foreign affairs committee looking into Australia's strategic interests also heard Japan spent more than $US6.9bn in supporting coalition forces in Afghanistan over the past 20 years.

The Japanese ambassador was asked by the chorus of senators about the assertive and aggressive presence of China in the Indo-Pacific and Asian region, particularly in regards to territory disputes in the East China Sea over the Senkaku Islands.

The Senkaku Islands have officially been Japanese territory since 1895, however China has disputed this since the 1970s.

Mr Shingo said all nation's within the region should be following a rules based system administered through ASEAN and the Quad, however the strategic alliance would not take on the form of a regional rendition of NATO.

"As we face challenges posed by the rise of emerging powers, it is of vital importance to address issues collectively," he said.

"A hierarchical regional order where one particular state rises above all is not acceptable to most. Every sovereign nation is equal before international law. After all, no one is impressed by self-righteous punitive enthusiasm."

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