India evacuates all embassy personnel from Kabul

MEA said the immediate priority is to obtain accurate information about all Indian nationals currently staying in Afghanistan.

After a tense day when diplomats were turned back from travelling by Taliban guards, 140 Indians, including about 120 Indian embassy staff and Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel, 16 civilians and four media persons flew back to Delhi on board a special military flight on Tuesday. The flight, a C-17 Globemaster, was one of the two military aircraft operated by the Indian Air Force for the purpose of bringing home all Indian personnel from the embassy. However, the government maintained it has not “abandoned” Afghans, and launched a new e-visa category especially for Afghan nationals wishing to come to India.  “We were a very large mission of 192 personnel, who were evacuated from Afghanistan within a period of three days in a very orderly fashion in two phases,” said Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Rudrendra Tandon, during a refuelling stopover in Jamnagar on Tuesday, where he thanked the Indian Air Force for the evacuation effort.   On August 16,  about 40 diplomats and other personnel, after the others were turned back from driving to the airport by Taliban guards in Kabul city, who stopped their convoy, confiscated some equipment and forced them back to the embassy. According to sources, some difficult and uncertain hours followed, as Indian diplomats, led by Mr. Tandon, coordinated with the new militia now in control of the capital and other diplomatic missions to ensure safe passage for the convoy out of Kabul, and then to the Hamid Karzai International Airport, currently under the control of US-led NATO troops.