India operates two flights a day from Kabul to evacuate Indians and other nationals
New Delhi:
The situation in Afghanistan is “deteriorating,” an Afghan female refugee, who this morning was among 168 people evacuated on a special air force flight from Kabul this morning, told ANI news agency.
The woman said she, her daughter and her two grandchildren were forced to flee after the Taliban “set my house on fire”, and she thanked the Indian government for saving them.
“The situation in Afghanistan deteriorated, so I came here with my daughter and two grandchildren. Our Indian brothers and sisters came to our aid. They (the Taliban) set my house on fire. I thank India for helping us,” said the unknown woman. .
“The situation in Afghanistan deteriorated, so I came here with my daughter and two grandchildren. Our Indian brothers and sisters came to our aid. They (Taliban) set my house on fire. I thank India for its help,” said an Afghan citizen of Hindon Air Force Station, Ghaziabad pic.twitter.com/Pmh1zqZZCB
— ANI (@ANI) August 22, 2021
168 people, including 107 Indians, 24 Afghan Sikhs and two Afghan senators, were on board an air force transport plane that landed safely earlier today at Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad near Delhi.
Among the evacuees were some Indian Sikhs who had fled to a gurudwara in Kabul.
ANI images also showed a baby among those evacuated safely; in the video, the child is in his/her mother’s arms, while a young girl (presumably the older sister) laughs happily and kisses the baby.
#WATCH | A baby was one of 168 people evacuated to Ghaziabad on an Indian Air Force C-17 plane from Kabul, Afghan, Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/DoR6ppHi4h
— ANI (@ANI) August 22, 2021
Photos also showed there was a second baby on board the plane; the child was also safe in his/her mother’s arms, with the father by their side, while the young family waits to be processed.
India carries out evacuation flights from Kabul for its citizens and those of other countries
A few hours before the Air Force flight landed, three others – operated by Air India, IndiGo and Vistara – landed with evacuees from Afghanistan in the national capital.
The flights brought back people who had been evacuated from Kabul earlier this week and flew first to Dushanbe in Tajikistan and Doha in Qatar, amid security concerns over flight paths from Afghanistan.
All evacuees will undergo RT-PCR testing in view of the Covid pandemic and Afghan nationals will also be vaccinated against polio, the government said.
India has been authorized to operate two flights a day from Kabul to evacuate its citizens and those of other countries stranded in Afghanistan, ANI has said, citing government sources.
Some of the 168 people flown back by the air force today were among the 150 detained by the Taliban yesterday, during a chaotic few hours that began with local reports that Indians had been kidnapped.
Government sources later clarified that the group had been taken for routine questioning and checking of travel documents prior to their evacuation.
Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said this week that the government is monitoring the situation in Kabul and Afghanistan “very carefully”, but that the immediate focus is on evacuating all civilians safely.
The Taliban took effective control of Afghanistan last Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani fled and the group entered the capital Kabul unopposed. This was after a dizzyingly rapid flight from major cities after two decades of war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
The group, feared two decades ago by its brutal and oppressive government, has tried to paint a more moderate picture by, for example, claiming that women will have rights, including education and work, and that the media will be independent and free.
But the violent response to protests – several were killed after Taliban fighters opened fire – and news that a female Afghan journalist is not allowed to work – suggest the “moderate” stance may not hold.
With input from ANI
