Committed to Evacuation of All Indians: EAM After All-Party Meet on Afghanistan

The government called the situation in Afghanistan "critical" at the all-party meeting on Thursday.

(Photo: PTI)

The government is strongly committed to ensuring full evacuation of all Indians from Afghanistan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said after the all-party meeting on the crisis in the country in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover.

In a tweet, he said, "We have undertaken evacuation operations in extremely difficult conditions especially at the airport. Our immediate concern and task is evacuation and long term interest is the friendship for the Afghan people. (sic)"

A document shared in the meeting shows that the Indian government has so far evacuated 565 people, news agency PTI reported.

These include 175 embassy personnel, 263 other Indian nationals, 112 Afghan nationals, including Hindus and Sikhs, and 15 third country nationals.

'Evacuation of Indians Top Priority'

According to news agency PTI, at the meeting, the cabinet minister emphasised that evacuation of Indian personnel from Afghanistan is a "top priority" and the country is trying to evacuate as many as possible.

The government also called the situation in Afghanistan "critical", and pointed out that Taliban broke the promises made in the Doha agreement, it was further reported.

Apart from Jaishankar, Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Prahlad Joshi were also representing the Centre during the meeting.

The Opposition leaders who attended the meeting included NCP's Sharad Pawar, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, JD(S) leader and ex-PM HD Deve Gowda and DMK leader TR Baalu.

After the meeting, Kharge stated that the situation was the “entire country’s problem” and “all parties have taken the same view”, ANI reported.

“We raised the issue of a female (Afghan) diplomat who was deported. They said that they made a mistake, it won’t be repeated and they will look into the matter."

Mallikarjun Kharge, as quoted by ANI.

Background

The evacuation operations are currently being carried out by India from Kabul in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover of the country.

On Thursday, an Indian Air Force flight with 24 Indian and 11 Nepalese evacuees from Kabul was on its way to Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said.

Chairing a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on the crisis in Afghanistan on 17 August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told officials to ensure safe evacuation of all Indian nationals, provide refuge to Sikh and Hindu minorities wanting to come to India, and provide all possible help to Afghanistan citizens looking for assistance from India.

"India must not only protect our citizens, but we must also provide refuge to Sikh and Hindu minorities who want to come to India and we must also provide all possible help to our Afghan brothers and sisters who are looking towards India for assistance," PM Modi was quoted as saying.

The Taliban took over Afghanistan on 15 August, as President Ashraf Ghani fled, capping days of an unprecedented advance by the insurgent group in which it took over city after city.

After the Taliban's takeover, chaos emerged at the airport in Kabul as countries scrambled to evacuate their citizens as well as Afghans working with them, while locals have been desperate to flee the country.

(With inputs from PTI)