146 Indian nationals evacuated from Afghanistan reach Delhi
There is an atmosphere of fear in Kabul, one evacuee says
New Delhi: The second batch of 146 Indian nationals who were evacuated from Afghanistan via Doha arrived in the national capital on Monday on various flights. One of the evacuees said that Indian Embassy alerted us to stay prepared to leave Afghanistan at any time.
“There is an atmosphere of fear in Kabul. On August 14, we were evacuated to Qatar from Kabul. Few days before August 14, we were alerted by the Indian Embassy to stay prepared to leave Afghanistan at any time,” said T Sarkar, an evacuee from Afghanistan.
“I never had the feeling of fear that I cannot return back home because I believed in our Indian embassy who are working day night to bring back the nations safely to our country. I just want whoever is still there come back safely but it is hard to stay if we can go back or not. Taliban has though said that they would form a government, now we just have to wait,” said Sarkar.
Another evacuee Sunil said: “We left on August 14. A US Embassy’s flight took us to Qatar where we stayed at the Army base. US Embassy spoke with Indian Embassy after which people from Indian Embassy came to take us.”
India on Sunday brought back nearly 400 people including 329 of its nationals in three different flights.
Up till now, around 400 individuals from Kabul have been evacuated that covered Indian citizens as well as Afghan nationals including Sikhs and Hindus of Afghanistan.
Earlier on Saturday, government sources told ANI that India has been allowed to operate two flights per day from Kabul to evacuate its nationals stranded in Afghanistan.
The permission has been granted by the American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces which have been controlling operations of the Hamid Karzai International Airport after the Afghan capital was taken over by the Taliban on August 15.
Hundreds of Indian nationals have to be taken out of Kabul which is now under the Taliban’s control. India is airlifting its citizens through Dushanbe in Tajikistan and Qatar. The Indian Air Force has already evacuated around 180 passengers including its Ambassador to Afghanistan and all other diplomats.