Taliban terrorists entered the city on Sunday and took over the presidential palace. (FILE)
Kathmandu:
Nine Indians and 118 Nepalese, all employed by the US embassy in Kabul, arrived in Kathmandu from Afghanistan on a chartered flight on Tuesday after the Taliban took control of the conflict-torn country.
All 127 people arrived from Kabul via Qatar Air’s flight. They landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), foreign ministry sources close to PTI said.
State Department spokesman Sewa Lamsal said all people were brought to the country from Kabul with coordination from the US Air Force.
All were flown to Doha, Qatar and then taken to Kathmandu on a chartered flight.
Nine Indians also arrived along with 118 Nepalese, officials said, according to The Kathmandu Post newspaper.
“The evacuees have landed in Kathmandu,” Brigadier General Santosh Ballave Poudyal, spokesman for the Nepalese army, told the Post.
An army medical team conducted antigen tests on the evacuees before deciding whether to go into isolation at home or keep them in government-built isolation centers. Two isolation centers are currently in operation.
“The medical teams at the isolation center will make the decision based on the circumstances of the returnees,” Poudyal said.
Harish Chandra Ghimire, co-secretary of the State Department, said the rescued Nepalese were working at the US embassy in Kabul.
“Along with Nepalese citizens, nine Indians also arrived on the same flight. They also worked in the US embassy,” the report added.
Those who arrived on Tuesday were evacuated by the Americans.
“The Americans have brought these Nepalese citizens home,” Ghimire told the Kathmandu Post.
The Nepalese government does not have the exact number of Nepalese working in Afghanistan, it said.
Since Nepal has no direct diplomatic ties to Afghanistan – the embassy in New Delhi is accredited to look after Kabul – and there are no clear mechanisms in Kathmandu, officials say evacuating Nepalese, especially undocumented migrants, would be easier said than done. may be, report added.
After chaos and panic at Kabul International Airport on Monday, as thousands of Afghans rushed to the tarmac and clung to the plane in a desperate attempt to get out of the country, all flights to and from Afghanistan have been suspended.
Airport officials said the evacuees were brought in a Jazeera Airways plane from Kuwait.
The brutal war in Afghanistan reached a turning point on Sunday as Taliban terrorists approached Kabul before entering the city and taking over the presidential palace, forcing embattled President Ashraf Ghani to join fellow citizens and foreigners to flee the country.
(This story was not edited by NewsMadura staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
