Centre, US work together to ensure safe return of Indians
NEW DELHI: The Indian government is coordinating closely with the United States, which currently controls the airport in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul and decides slots for all flights, for repatriating all Indian nationals who are still in the war-torn country.
There was close cooperation between India and the US for the evacuation of some 200 Indian diplomats, officials, security personnel and citizens on two military aircraft on Monday and Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity on Wednesday.
The evacuation was done in two phases against the backdrop of serious security concerns, including intelligence reports that elements of the Lashkar-eTaiba and Haqqani Network, both Pakistan-based terror groups, had entered Kabul along with the Taliban fighters that took over the capital following the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government on Sunday.
The evacuation of Indians figured when US secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke to external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday as part of his conversations with several counterparts across the region. Besides the contact between the two foreign ministers, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval coordinated with his US counterpart Jake Sullivan while foreign secretary Harsh Shringla spoke with US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman to ensure that the evacuation of some 150 diplomats, security personnel and citizens could be done smoothly, the people cited above said.
Only military evacuation flights are currently operating from Kabul airport though commercial flights by airlines, including Air India, are expected to resume later this week. The Hamid Karzai international airport was closed after chaotic scenes on Monday, when thousands of Afghans marched on to the tarmac in a desperate effort to flee the country.
The people said the US will play a crucial role when commercial flights resume as it will decide slots for airlines.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed officials on Tuesday to ensure that all Indian nationals are safely repatriated from Afghanistan.