India evacuates diplomatic staff amid Afghan turmoil
NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday withdrew its ambassador and diplomatic staff from Kabul, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a high-level meeting during which he directed officials to ensure all Indian nationals are evacuated safely from war-torn Afghanistan.
Some 150 people, including India’s ambassador to Afghanistan Rudrendra Tandon, were brought back on a C-17 Globemaster heavy lift aircraft from the Afghanistan capital on Tuesday, a day after 45 diplomats and security personnel were flown in similarly as part of an extensive evacuation programme kept tightly under wraps and put into motion after Indian side received credible inputs about possible threats from rouge elements and Pakistani terror groups.
PM Modi held a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) and, according to officials aware of the discussions, issued directions to ensure all Indian nationals are brought back safely, and that India is able to extend assistance to Afghan citizens requiring it.
“In view of the prevailing situation in Kabul, it was decided that our embassy personnel would be immediately moved to India. This movement has been completed in two phases and the ambassador and all other Indiabased personnel have reached New Delhi [on Tuesday] afternoon,” the external affairs ministry said earlier in the day.
India sent two C-17s, which flew into Kabul using a circuitous route through Iranian airspace and over the Arabian Sea in order to avoid flying over Pakistan or spending too much time in the uncontrolled Afghan airspace. As the Kabul airport is small and the aircraft were offered slots of limited duration, the C-17s halted in the Tajikistan capital of Dushanbe till it was time for them to fly into Kabul, said people aware of the matter.
The second of these flights landed in Gujarat’s Jamnagar on Tuesday afternoon.
The withdrawal of the ambassador and other staff from Kabul reflected India’s misgivings about Taliban’s assurances that all embassies and diplomats would be provided security. Taliban spokesman Suhail Saheen had tweeted on Monday night that no problems will be created for diplomats, embassies and charitable workers but this failed to reassure the Indian side.
Tandon, who had taken up his assignment in Kabul only in August last year, told reporters during an interaction at the Jamnagar airbase, where the C-17 jet halted to refuel, that some Indian citizens were still in Afghanistan and Air India would continue operating flights from Kabul as long as the airport there remains functional to bring them back.
He added: “As you know, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan no longer exists and the situation is quite fluid now.”
Air India has temporarily suspended its flights to Kabul because of conditions at the airport, but the MEA has opened a help desk and will ensure that anyone stuck in Kabul is brought back, he said.
According to another official aware of the evacuation efforts at Kabul, the Indian ministry of external affairs and security officials started bringing evacuees to the Kabul airport from Monday as negotiations were undertaken with Taliban.