Afghanistan: ‘IAF continues evacuation’ shares MEA, flight with 168 on-board reaches Delhi

Amid the Afghanistan crisis, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is frequently flying into Kabul to evacuate Indian citizens. On Sunday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed the evacuation of 168 people, including 107 Indian nationals stuck in Afghanistan. The evacuation was done by a special repatriation flight that reached the Hindon IAF base in Ghaziabad today.

At Hindon, an Afghan national, who is one among the evacuated, told ANI, “Situation was deteriorating in Afghanistan, so I came here with my daughter & two grandchildren. Our Indian brothers & sisters came to our rescue. They (Taliban) burnt down my house. I thank India for helping us.”

Informing the evacuation process that was underway, MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted, "Evacuation continues! IAF special repatriation flight with 168 passengers on board, including 107 Indian nationals, is on its way to Delhi from Kabul." Currently, India has been allowed to operate two flights per day from Kabul to carry on the evacuation of Indian nationals stranded in Afghanistan. The MEA said that the government is fully committed to facilitating a safe return of all Indian nationals from the Taliban-captured country.

India is continuing its evacuation process amid continued chaos in the Hamid Karzai International Airport as Afghan nationals try to leave the country after the Taliban seized control last week. With countries urgently evacuating their citizens from the war-torn nation, the rush at the Kabul airport has gone up. Earlier the US troops had laid wired fences around the airstrip and placed armed military personnel to guard the same after evacuation operations had to be paused due to overcrowding on the runways.

Afghanistan MPs evacuated from Kabul in Air India Flight

Earlier in the day, Air India's first commercial flight carrying 87 stranded Indians from Afghanistan landed in New Delhi. The flight also successfully managed to evacuate two Afghanistan leaders - Afghan Senator Anarkali Honaryar and Afghan MP Narender Singh from the war-torn nation. Thanking the Indian government, Indian Air Force and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Afghan MPs lauded India for standing by them during this time of crisis. The IAF had first flown the stranded citizens from Kabul to Tajikistan on Saturday afternoon.

India allowed operating two flights daily

Amid the Taliban takeover, India has been expanding its efforts to evacuate citizens from the war-torn nation. On Saturday, news agency ANI reported that American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces permitted India to expand its evacuation measures to retreat its nationals. The security forces that are monitoring the evacuation procedures have allowed two Indian planes to take off and land at the Kabul airport, under American security protection. NATO forces guarding the Kabul airport are currently operating a total of 25 flights as they work on evacuating their citizens, weaponry, and equipment. 

India's commercial flights such as Air India, Vistara and Indigo Airlines have been airlifting its citizens through Tajikistan's Dushanbe and Qatar's Doha. More than 300 Indian nationals have been evacuated from Kabul so far.

(IMAGE: ANI TWITTER)

(With inputs from ANI)